China - 2009 July 9

China's crude steel output in June reached 45.39 million tonnes, the official Shanghai Securities News reported on Thursday, citing data obtained from the China Iron and Steel Association. Daily production in June was 1.513 million tonnes, the newspaper said. On a monthly basis, output was down 2.3 percent from an 11-month high of 46.46 million tonnes in May. The rate of output is equivalent to an annual production of 552.2 million tonnes, more than 10 percent above 2008 output of 500 million tonnes. Steel mills in China, the world's biggest producing nation, are trying to maintain high output as the China Iron and Steel Association said they started to be profitable in May after being in the red for the previous seven months. China's Baoshan Iron and Steel Co Ltd (Baosteel), the country's flagship, is expected to raise August prices for its major hot- and cold-rolled steel products by about 5 percent versus the July tags, trade sources have said. Trade sources expect that Baosteel will announce August prices late this week or early next week. Baosteel's rival Wuhan Iron and Steel has raised its major hot- and cold-rolled steel products by 200-500 yuan a tonne for August sales, traders said.