China to exceed 2016 target for steel capacity cuts - industry group

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China is set to hit its 2016 target for crude steel capacity cuts by late October, with additional reductions expected in the last two months of the year, an industry association said on Thursday.

The China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) also said on its website that the country had by the end of last month completed more than 80 percent of this year's capacity reduction target of 45 million tonnes.

A worldwide steel glut has stoked trade disputes between China, the world's top maker of the construction material, and other producers such as the United States and the European Union.

China plans to eliminate 100-150 million tonnes of annual production over the next five years, but cutting capacity has so far done little to rein in output.

The country, which accounts for half the world's steel production, has a total capacity of 1.13 billion tonnes.

Capacity cuts and improving demand have helped Chinese steelmakers swing to profit this year, CISA said. The 100 big and medium steel mills that comprise CISA's membership made a profit of 25.2 billion yuan (3 billion pounds) in the first nine months of the year, it said.

China has been challenged with 38 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation cases over the first nine months of 2016, CISA added.

($1 = 6.7768 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Ruby Lian and Josephine Mason; Editing by Joseph Radford)