BEIJING: China’s crude steel output fell in July to the lowest monthly level since April 2020 as authorities stepped up production controls designed to meet a target of keeping output unchanged from last year as Beijing bids to cap carbon emissions.

The world’s top producer made 86.79 million tonnes of crude steel last month, falling 7.6% from June and 8.4% from 93.36 million tonnes in July 2020, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday.

Average daily output stood at 2.8 million tonnes last month, according to Reuters calculations based on the NBS data, slipping 11% from 3.13 million tonnes per day in June.

Since late June, Beijing has dispatched inspection teams to local governments and mills to check that cuts in steel capacity and output are being implemented, shutting down outdated blast furnaces and limiting production at more heavily polluting plants.

“(We) should focus on reducing crude steel output at companies with poor environmental performance, high energy consumption and outdated technology and equipment... and to ensure 2020 crude steel output falls from a year earlier,” the China Iron and Steel Association said in a statement last week.

The association and analysts expect steel demand in China to cool in the second half of the year due to slowing construction activity and still-tight semiconductor supplies that are constraining manufacturing and metals demand in the auto sector.

In the first seven months of the year, China made 649.33 million tonnes of steel, up 8% from the same period a year earlier, the statistics bureau said.