Jun. 18, 2010 (China Knowledge) - China's crude steel output was 56.14 million tons in May, creating a new record for three consecutive months, according to statistics released by the National Statistics Bureau. Last month, China's average daily crude steel output was 1.81 million tons, down 1.95% from 1.85 million tons in April, yet still standing at the second place in history. Based on the monthly growth, China's annual steel output may hit 656 million tons in 2010. In the first five months, China produced 268.9 million tons of crude steel, up 23.8% year on year. However, steel purchase orders were shrinking as steel demand dropped in China. The current end-user crude steel consumption accounts for only 65% of that in the same period of last year. In 2009, China produced 567.8 million tons of crude steel, 13.5% more than a year earlier, accounting for 46.6% of the world's total.

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