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Baosteel predicts annual steel production in China above 1 billion tons
Platts, one of China's largest companies, Baosteel, said major steel end-users in China will continue to recover in the second half of the year, resulting in a 4% increase in crude steel production in China in 2020 over the same period last year. and will amount to 1.04 billion tons. For the first time, steel production in the country exceeded 1 billion tons.
Baosteel expects car production in China to fall 6% year on year to 24.2 million units in 2020, up 11.8% from January-July.
The annual decline in household appliance production was also expected to decline from double digits in the first half of 2020 to single digits in 2020.
Production of air conditioners, washing machines, freezers and refrigerators fell 8% year-on-year in January-July, improving from an 11% fall in January-June, according to data from China's National Bureau of Statistics.
Meanwhile, China's real estate and infrastructure sectors will continue to generate strong steel demand in the second half, which will benefit long products as well as flat products used in infrastructure projects such as bridges, windmills and hydroelectric power plants, Baosteel said.
The company expects long steel prices to be well supported in the second half of the year, while the third quarter is likely to be the strongest quarter in 2020 for the flat steel market.
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