China commodities output weak in first two months of 2016

Beijing

CHINA'S output of key industrial commodities including coal and steel continued to shrink in the first two months of the year amid chronic oversupply, while crude oil production slipped as a global price slump took its toll.

Economic activity data also remained weak in January and February, with factory output growth hitting the lowest since the global financial crisis, keeping pressure on policymakers to do more to avert a sharper showdown in the world's second-largest economy.

The government set an economic growth target of 6.5-7 per cent for this year at the country's annual parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), which ran last week. "China's recent National People's Congress provided some positive news for commodity markets by stimula…