--FILE--Un travailleur chinois examine une pile de barres d'armature en acier à destination à une usine de transformation de l'acier, de l'est comté Ganyu Chines Jiangsu pr
--FILE--A Chinese worker examines a stack of reinforcing steel rods to be exported at a steel processing plant in Ganyu county, east Chinas Jiangsu province, 2 August 2013. The fastest Chinese steel output on record is still too slow to meet demand from builders, reducing inventories and driving prices toward a bull market. Production of steel reinforcement bars rose 14 percent to 113 million metric tons in the first seven months and stockpiles slumped 35 percent from an all-time high, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Rebar, accounting for almost one-third of steel output in China, will average 4, 000 yuan ($655) a ton in the fourth quarter, 7 percent more than now and the highest in more than a year, according to the median of 15 analyst estimates. The appetite for steel suggests sustained demand for commodities, even as Premier Li Keqiangtries to curb excess lending and shutter inefficient plants in industries from metals to cement. Imports from copper to crude oil are rebounding as manufacturing data add to signs that China will meet Lis 7.5 percent growth target this year.
