A worker at a steel plant in Dalian, Liaoning province. (Photo: China Daily)

BEIJING -- China's steel sector registered output expansion in the first 10 months of this year, industrial data showed.

Crude steel output saw a year-on-year growth of 5.5 percent to stand at 874 million tonnes in the January-October period, according to the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).

The output of pig iron rose 4.3 percent from a year earlier to 742 million tonnes during the period, the CISA said.

The association expected the country's annual output of crude steel to exceed 1 billion tonnes in 2020, representing year-on-year growth of 3 percent to 5 percent.