BEIJING — China's major steel mills saw their average daily output of crude steel stand at about 2.05 million metric tons in mid-March, an industrial data showed.

The daily output marked an increase of 4.61 percent from that recorded in early March, according to the China Iron and Steel Association.

Major steel producers churned out 20.49 million metric tons of crude steel in mid-March, the data showed.

During this period, daily production of pig iron rose 3.05 percent from early March, while that of rolled steel gained 5.17 percent, the data showed.