Steelmakers hit by glut in production, sinking prices

The country's steelmakers reduced output last month, adding to signs of waning demand in the world's largest producer as companies grappled with overcapacity, sinking prices and slowing economic growth.

Crude-steel output fell 4.6 percent to 65.84 million metric tons from June, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday.

Production in the first seven months was 476 million tons, 1.8 percent less than a year earlier. Demand for steel in Asia's largest economy is falling for the first time in a generation, spurring mills to ship record amounts of the alloy overseas as prices slump.