--FILE--Un travailleur chinois examine une pile de produits en acier à une usine de transformation de l'acier dans la ville de Huaibei, la Chine de l'est la province de l'Anhui, le 4 avril 2014.
--FILE--A Chinese worker examines a stack of steel products at a steel processing plant in Huaibei city, east China's Anhui province, 4 April 2014. Steel output in China is set to tumble, according to commodity trader Noble Group Ltd., which warned that the slump in the top producer will hurt raw-material demand. Mills are making losses of about $50 on every ton, the Hong Kong-based company said in its earnings statement. Combined with a construction slowdown this quarter, that means a drop in the country¯s crude-steel output is highly probable, it said on Thursday (12 November 2015). Steel output in China has dropped this year as local demand contracts for the first time in a generation, with data on Wednesday showing a further fall last month. Mills in China are making increased losses as steel prices retreat to record lows, and a further decline in output would curb consumption of iron ore and coking coal. "At current steel and raw-materials prices, China's steel mills are realizing negative margins, " Noble said. "Global crude-steel production ended the third quarter by recording its twelfth consecutive month of year-on-year declines."
