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Steel production levels hold up despite weak demand
China's steel inventories are still elevated and there are few indications that steel production is slowing.
In the last 10 days of January, crude steel inventories at China's major steel mills increased by 1.27 per cent to almost 2.2 million tonnes when compared to the previous 10 day period, according to the most recent data from the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).
Daily crude steel production at the country's major steel firms over the same period averaged 1.68 million tonnes, a 0.35 per cent fall on average daily production over the preceding 10 days.
According to the article, last year China's major steel mills produced over 823 million tonnes of crude steel. However, estimates reveal that the capacity utilisation in the industry could be as low as 64.5 per cent.
This indicates that it's way too early to start talking about the end of the steel industry's "winter" period.
The article also notes that as steel mills struggle to find buyers for their products, they're turning to specialised online platforms to help them find buyers.
Energy agency says power plants built without approval
Many thermal power plants are still being constructed without the requisite approval, according to a report that was released by the National Energy Administration in recent days.
The report, which focused on the supervision of the planning and construction of thermal power plants in China, noted that the practice of going ahead with construction ahead of official regulatory approval still existed.
The report also noted that some projects with approval were not built in accordance with the guidelines set down by authorities.
The audit focused on power plant construction in eight provinces.
Land area for new China real estate developments falls 25% in 2014
The area of land used for new property development fell by a quarter in 2014 compared with the year previously reports Xinhua citing data from the Ministry of Land and Resources.
According to the state news agency, land allocated to new real estate developments dropped 25.5 per cent last year to 151,000 hectares from 2013.
Housing prices increased slightly in January, halting a nine-month decline trend according to a survey by the China Index Academy released earlier.
(Xinhua)
No rest for anti-corruption agency over Lunar New Year
China’s anti-graft agency received 1818 corruption complaints to its website over the lunar new year period, a 10 per cent drop from the previous year reports the Beijing Morning Post.
Citing a source at the agency, the newspaper reports that anti-graft investigators dealt with 50 phone calls a day during the period, level with the previous year.