Large Chinese steelmakers’ losses in core business more than doubled during the first five months from a year earlier as tumbling steel prices plunged producers into red, a top official of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) said on Thursday. CISA members, comprising of 101 big mills, posted a loss of 16.48 billion yuan ($2.65 billion) in steelmaking business for January-May, which was 10.36 billion yuan more from the same period of last year, according Zhang Guangning, CISA’s chairman. “It’s obvious that China’s apparent crude steel consumption has reached the peak, and the large growth of demand has became a history,” Zhang said in a speech that was published on the CISA website. Chinese steel prices are at their lowest in more than 20 years as the stuttering economy is hitting demand for a range of commodities including iron ore, steel and copper, threatening the survival of small […]