China's Steelmakers Are Smashing Production Records
- Mills approaching output limits, says Goldman’s Trina Chen
- Top global producer posts record production in first half
Photographer: VCG via Getty Images
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China’s steelmakers are smashing production records by pushing furnaces beyond their typical limits, offsetting nationwide closures that may be even more swingeing than government estimates, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
The world’s top producer has trumpeted sweeping reforms in the past two years that have shuttered aging and illegal plants, and shackled winter output in the dirtiest regions. At the same time, official data shows output at record highs. That’s partly because, with demand robust and margins high, mills have rewritten their steel-making recipes to push output beyond normal capacity, says Goldman’s Hong Kong-based analyst Trina Chen.