China's crude steel production reached 70 million tonnes in March 2014

China's metallurgists produced 202.7 million tonnes of steel, 179.7 million tonnes of pig iron and 261.41 million tonnes of metal products during the first three months of this year, up 2.4 percent, 0.1 percent and 5.3 percent. percent respectively for the same period in 2013, according to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics.

In March, steel production amounted to 70.25 million tons, an increase of 2.2 percent, pig iron was produced 61.55 million tons, which is 0.9 percent higher, and metal products were produced 95.07 million tons, an increase of 5 percent, all compared to year-on-year.

Average daily steel production in March 2014 amounted to 2.2660 million tons, which is 2.2 percent higher than in February; metal products hit 3.067 million tons, up 9.2 percent for the month.

China's coke production was 114.330 million tonnes in the first three months of this year, down 0.4 percent YoY. In March, China produced 38.32 million tons of coke, down 5.3 percent from the same month last year.

Combined with imports and exports, China's crude steel consumption reached 187.09 million tonnes in the first three months of this year, up 0.4 percent from the same period last year. Consumption of steel products amounted to 246.67 million tons, an increase of 4.0 percent YoY.