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UPDATE 2-China's 2018 crude steel output to hit record level -govt research body


    * Steel production seen at record of 923 mln T this year
    * Expected to slip back to 900 mln T in 2019
    * China is world's top steel producer

 (Adds comment, table)
    BEIJING, Dec 10 (Reuters) - China's 2018 crude steel output
is expected to set an annual record of 923 million tonnes before
slipping back to 900 million tonnes next year, a government
consultancy said on Monday.
    Output in the world's top steel producer jumped this year
from 831.73 million tonnes in 2017, with major mills boosting
production to fill a gap after Beijing shut down low-grade steel
capacity that had not previously been included in official data,
said Li Xinchuang, president at the China Metallurgical Industry
Planning and Research Institute.
    "Steel output is moved by the general economic situation and
demand in both domestic and global markets," Li said at a
briefing, adding that China's ongoing anti-pollution campaign
and uncertainty stemming from Sino-U.S. trade friction would
also affect the steel market.
    The consultancy also predicted that steel consumption in
China would fall to 800 million tonnes in 2019 from 820 million
tonnes this year, dragged down by waning demand in the property,
automobile and energy sectors.
    China is expected to consume 1.206 billion tonnes of iron
ore this year, up 1.6 percent from a year earlier, the institute
said in a report. Use of the key steelmaking ingredient will
drop to around 1.147 billion tonnes next year alongside
declining steel output, it said.
    The government research body also predicts China will export
a net 55 million tonnes of steel products in 2019, down slightly
from 56.2 million tonnes this year.  
    Below is a breakdown of steel demand measured in million
tonnes:
    
 Sector                  2019  yr-on-yr pct change%
 Property                425   -1.2
 Machinery               142   1.4
 Automobile              55.5  -0.9
 Energy                  32.5  -1.5
 Shipbuilding            12.5  4.1
 Household Applications  12.6  0.8
 Rail                    5.4   5.9
 Container               6.5   8.3
    

 (Reporting by Muyu Xu and Dominique Patton
Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Joseph Radford)
  



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