Resumen de China's refractory customers show strength in 2016, but refractories output falls
Refractory industry summary and data analysis Production continues to fall, chiefly because refractory infrastructure demand has decreased quickly - for example, investment (including mines) from the companies in the steel association plummeted 31.41% y-o-y in 2016. China's refractory customers show strength in 2016 Output in the crude steel, cement, flat glass and nonferrous metals sectors all increased y-o-y, by 1.2%, 2.5%, 5.8% and 2.5% respectively. According to the World Steel Association, global crude steel output (66 countries and areas) was 1.6bn tonnes in 2016, up 0.7%. Copper production was 8.44m tonnes, up 6% y-o-y by volume; electrolytic aluminium production was 31.87m tonnes, up 1.3% y-o-y by volume; lead production was 4.67m tonnes, up 5.7% y-o-y by volume (after falling 5.3% y-o-y by volume in 2015); zinc production was 6.27m tonnes, up 2% y-o-y by volume; alumina production was 60.91m tonnes, up 3.4% y-o-y by volume. *Figures differ from official customs...
