Steelmakers worth most in years, thanks to China

London

STEEL stocks are trading at the highest since 2011 and it's mostly thanks to the industry's biggest menace in recent years: China.

Demand in China, which produces half the world's steel, has been surprisingly strong this year and the country closed some plants to ease a glut that had spread across the globe. That's led to a steep drop in exports, helping steel prices extend a recovery and pushing a Bloomberg gauge of global steel stocks up 45 per cent in the past year. That's triple the advance in the Bloomberg World Mining Index.