China’s crude steel production fell 1.7% from a year earlier to 69.95 million tons in May, marking a 1.6% decline for the sector in the first five months of the year as slowing construction of property and infrastructure dragged on domestic demand, Bloomberg reported, citing data from the National Bureau of Statistics. China’s total industrial output rose 6.1% while fixed-asset investment grew at a slower-than-projected 11.4%; new property construction starts slid 16% in the first five months of the year. Helen Lau, an analyst at Argonaut Securities, said about 70% of the country’s steel demand is related to property, infrastructure and machinery manufacturing.
China Economic Review