China Must Control Steel Output Amid Weak Demand, Grouping Says

China, the world’s biggest steel producer and user, must regulate output as profit for mills declines amid high input costs and low demand and product prices, an industry grouping said.

“The winter for the steel industry has come -- we will have to control output and watch for high inventory,” Zhang Changfu, general secretary of the China Iron and Steel Association, told reporters today in Beijing. “There’s no sign the weak demand for steel products will change. Major steel users such as property, auto, shipbuilding and infrastructure have all slowed their growth or even declined.”