Steel output in China shrinks in first half as demand stumbles

Beijing

THE world's biggest steelmaker is in a funk.

Crude-steel production in China shrank 1.3 per cent to 410 million tonnes in the first half compared with the same period of 2014, according to the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday. June's output fell 0.8 per cent from a year ago.

After decades of rapid growth spurred an unprecedented expansion in steel supply, output is now dropping as mills in China contend with a property-led slowdown, overcapacity an…