The purchasing managers' index (PMI) tracking China's iron and steel sector fell 5.2 percentage points month on month to 37 percent in November, hitting the lowest since December, 2008, according to the latest data released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP).
The figure has been under the 50-percent level demarcating growth from contraction for the 19th consecutive month, reflecting the continuously sluggish industrial climate.
The sub-index for steel production in November was 35.4 percent, down 7.7 percentage points from a month earlier, showing steel mills' poor production enthusiasm and the acceleration in the de-capacity progress.
In November, the sub-index for new orders edged down 8.2 percentage points month on month to 29.7 percent, hitting the lowest since July this year.
The figure has been under the 50-percent level demarcating growth from contraction for the 17th consecutive month, reflecting soft demand and bigger pressure on sales in the future.
The sub-index for new export orders was 41.2 percent in November, up 1.9 percentage points month on month, ending a three-consecutive-month decline.
However, the figure was still in the contraction range, implying that the country's steel exports will be hard to increase significantly in the future.
Meanwhile, sub-index for the finished product stocks was 49.2 percent, up 3.5 percentage points from a month before, showing big pressure on the domestic steel mills' "de-stocking".
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