SHANGHAI — China, the world’s largest steelmaker, produced 716.54 million tonnes of crude steel in 2012, up 3.1 percent from the previous year, National Bureau of Statistics data show.

But this is short of the 2011 year-on-year gain of 8.9 percent, attributable to the moderating of China’s economy.

China’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth for 2012 was 7.8 percent, the slowest rate in 13 years.

Output totaled 57.66 million tonnes in December, or an average of 1.86 million tonnes daily, down 2.9 percent from November.

The China Iron and Steel Association previously estimated 2012 crude steel output at 697.48 million tonnes. 

A version of this article was first published by AMM sister publication Steel First.