(Yicai Global) Jan. 24 -- China's crude  steel output broke a national record last year, with the fastest annual  growth rate in the past three years.

China churned out 928 million tons of crude steel, which was 6.6 percent more than in 2017, according to data that the National Bureau of Statistics released on Jan. 22. The country produced 1.1 billion tons of iron, up 8.5 percent. It also made 771 million tons of pig iron, up 3 percent.

The rapid growth will put pressure on  steel prices, online news outlet Jiemian reported, citing the China Iron  and Steel Association. The crude steel output growth rate rose 0.9 percentage points from that of 2017.

However, the end of last year started to  show signs of downturn in production. The daily output of crude steel  averaged 2.5 million tons last December, down 5.1 percent monthly,  despite an 8.2 percent annual increase, the NBS data shows.

China's crude steel output growth will  shrink this year, Wang predicted. The volume will reach about 950  million tons, with a growth rate of about 3 percent, down 3 percentage  points from last year, he projected. 

The reason for last year's strong  performance is the rise of domestic demand and rapid emergence of new  production capacity, Yu Yong, the president of the CISA, said at a  meeting held on Jan. 14. 

Industry players upped the ante by  getting closer to their highest capacity last year, as the related  utilization rate rose 2.2 percentage points to an average of 78 percent,  the NBS data show. This was the largest increase since 2014, said Wang  Guoqing, a research director at the Lange Steel Information Research  Center.

Editor: Emmi Laine