China's steel production rose 1.7 percent in August

China produced 66.94 million tonnes of crude steel in August, increasing output by 1.7 percent from 65.84 million tonnes in July. However, compared to the same month last year, production fell by 3.5 percent, as evidenced by the latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics.

From January to August, China's crude steel output was 543 million tonnes, down 2 percent year on year. This marked an annualized fall of 1.8 percent during January-July, and a 1.3 percent decline during January-June.

China produced 57.61 million pig iron in August, up 0.5 percent from the previous month, but down 5.1 percent year on year. From January to August, China's pig iron production fell 3.2 percent year on year to 471 million tonnes.