Steelmakers are worth the most in years

Chinese infra spending has boosted local demand, just as govt shuttered mn of tons of overcapacity

Steel stocks are trading at the highest since 2011 and it’s mostly thanks to the industry’s biggest menace in recent years — China. Demand in China, which produces half the world’s steel, has been surprisingly strong this year and the country closed some plants to ease a glut that had spread across the globe. That’s led to a steep drop in exports, helping steel prices extend a recovery and pushing a Bloomberg gauge of global steel stocks up 45 per cent in the past year. That’s triple the advance in the Bloomberg World Mining Index.

China has been blamed by politicians