Mr Zhang Changfu secretary general of the China Iron and Steel Association at an annual meeting about China's steel market outlook Saturday said that China is expected to witness 723 million tonnes of crude steel output this year, only a 3% increase compared with the same period last year and the lowest growth rate since 2000.
Fixed investment in the steel industry has totaled CNY 414.27 billion (USD 66.32 billion) in the first 10 months of this year, up 3.9% compared with the same period last year, Zhang said, adding that the increasing investment will aggravate current production overcapacity.
Mr Zhang said that large steel enterprises have cut production but the output of small and medium-sized steel companies is expected to surge by around 20% YoY in 2012.