Steel pipe production in China reaches its highest monthly level

Statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that the country's seamless steel pipe production hit its highest level during 2014 in the month of June. However, production declined marginally from a record high in the previous year.

The cumulative output of seamless steel pipe for the past six months was 15.8 million tonnes, up 4 percent year on year. In addition, the production of welded pipes during the first half of this year amounted to 26.51 million tons. Production of welded pipes in the country increased by 6 percent annually compared with the figures for the corresponding six-month period last year, the NBS data show.

According to the NBS, the output of seamless steel pipes in the country amounted to 2.846 million tons in June 2014. This is the highest achieved so far this year. However, June 2014 output was down 0.5 percent from a record high last June, when China's seamless steel pipe production totaled 2.853 million tonnes.

In June 2014, the daily output of seamless steel pipes at Chinese steel mills rose 7 percent to 94,880 tons from the previous month. The demand for pipe products in the Chinese domestic market is quite high.