China  has  produced  72 million mt of crude steel in March, the highest on record and up 1.8% 

from March 2016, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics Monday showed. 

The previous record high was in March 2016, at 70.65 million mt. 

The  March  2017  output  was  a  17.8%  jump  from  February, S&P Global Platts calculations 

showed. 

January  and  February  data  are  always  released  together  because of the Lunar New Year 

holidays,  and  the February figure was derived by multiplying the number of days in the month 

by the average output per day over the two months. 

March  output  was  equivalent  to  2.32 million mt/d of crude steel, which was 6.4% higher than 

the daily average in February, and was also a record high. 

The glut was driven mainly by China's crackdown on induction furnace operators, which caused 

a rally in domestic steel prices and margins, a Shanghai-based trader said.