China 2011 steel production capacity tops 800 mln t, report

BEIJING  -- China's production capacity of crude steel has continued to grow this year in spite of industry-wide losses.

In 2011, the country's production capacity of crude steel has seen a steady expansion, topping 800 million metric tons (tonnes) by now, reported China Securities Journal.

A total of 63 blast furnaces have been built up in 2011, boosting the country's iron-smelting capacity to 85.59 million tonnes, according to latest estimates from umetal.com.

However, the industry's average profitability slumped to a fresh low of 0.47 percent in October, and the industry's combined profits were only 1.38 billion yuan in the month.