During the first quarter of 2000 China produced 184.23 million tonnes of coal, down 7.5% from the same period in 1999. On an annualised basis, this equates to 737 Mt. Production for March 2000 alone was reported to be 74.96 Mt, or 900 Mt annualised.

Meanwhile, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported that the country’s steel production grew 4.8% percent to 19.81 Mt in the first two months of this year (or about 118.9 Mt annualised), compared to 1999.

Xinhua also quoted the National Bureau of Statistics as saying that the output of steel products hit 18.80 Mt in the same period (or about 112.8 Mt annualised), which represents an increase of 9.4% compared to the same period last year.

Production of pig iron grew 11.0% percent to 20.37 million tonnes (or about 122.2 Mt annualised) compared with the same period last year.