According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of China, in September, steel production in China fell to a six-month low - by 5.4% to 82.77 million tons from 87.25 million tons in August.
Chinese steelmakers have been impacted by a host of restrictions aimed at reducing air pollution in Beijing ahead of the National Day parades in October.
Average daily steel production in September was 2.76 million tonnes, down 1.8% from the previous month.
China produced 747.82 million tonnes of steel in the first nine months of this year, up 8.4% from the same period last year (APRP), according to NBS.
The weekly utilization rate of blast furnaces at steel mills across the country fell to 56.2% at the end of September, the lowest level in seven years, according to data compiled by consultancy Mysteel.
But analysts do not expect a sharp drop in Chinese steel production in the coming months.
"Environmental restrictions are not critical to steel supply," said Tang Binghua, an analyst at the founder of CIFCO Futures, speaking ahead of the data release. “Production is mainly driven by profit.”
China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by just 6.0% year-on-year in July-September, marking further loss of momentum for the economy after rising 6.2% in the second quarter.
GDP growth in the third quarter was the slowest since the first quarter of 1992.
China's trading partners and investors are keeping a close eye on the health of the world's second-largest economy as a trade war with the United States fuels fears of a global recession.
