Steel miners in China cutting production after demand is squeezed

In an ominous sign for the big London-listed miners, China¡¯s largest steel mills are cutting production as demand is squeezed.

Baoshan Iron & Steel and Aluminium Corp of China (Chalco) led share declines in Shanghai today, with Baoshan down 5.6 per cent after an 8.8 per cent fall yesterday.

'People are thinking we will see a recession in the US and Europe, and that will have a knock-on effect on the demand for product from China,' said Oliver Stevens, head of dealing at IG Markets in Melbourne.

 Melting: China's largest steel mills are cutting production

'People are de-leveraging out of these commodity stocks. People are getting into cash. London-listed BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are two of the biggest suppliers of iron ore to the Chinese market.

Both have predicted some softening of demand in China but have generally been confident the squeeze can be contained. But demand appears to be eroding faster than expected.

Chalco has cut alumina prices for a third time in five months because of falling demand, and says third-quarter profits will slump by more

Copyright and Exemption Declaration :¢ÙAll articles, pictures and videos that are marked with "China Aluminum Network" on this website are copyright and belong to China Aluminium Network (www.alu.com.cn). When transshipment, any media, website or individual must list the source from "China Aluminium Network (www.alu.com.cn)". We seek legal actions against anyone that disobey this. ¢ÚArticles that marked as copy from others are for transferring more information to readers, do not represent or endorse their opinions or accuracy and reliability. When other media, website or individuals copy from our website, must keep the source. Anyone that changes the articles' sources will hold the responsibilities for copyright and law problems. We also seek legal actions against anyone that disobey this. ¢ÛIf any articles copied by our website concern the copyright and other problems, please contact us within one week.