China's average daily crude steel output rose to 1.932 million tonnes in September, up 2 percent from 1.894 million tonnes in August, government data showed on Thursday, as a rebound in prices encouraged mills to boost production.

On a full-month basis, total crude steel production stood at 57.95 million tonnes in September, down one percent from August, to mark the lowest output since February, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

A slowdown in economic growth in China, the world's top steel producer, has hit demand for steel products -- widely used in construction, manufacturing, household appliances and car making. Domestic prices hit a three-year low in early September.

However, a seasonal pick-up in demand on the back of increased construction activity has helped rebar prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rebound by more than 10 percent since early September. "I think steelmakers will continue to raise output in October, maybe to between 1.95-2 million tonnes per day.

There's still demand out there, but its not exciting so we won't see the run-rate exceeding this year's high," said Henry Liu, head of commodity research at Mirae Asset Securities in Hong Kong.

Average daily steel output reached a record high above 2 million tonnes in April. China's average daily crude steel output rose to 1.916 million tonnes between Oct. 1-10, up 4 percent from Sept. 21-30, industry data showed.

China's economy slowed for a seventh straight quarter in July-September, growing just 7.4 percent, buffeted by weak demand at home and abroad in its weakest showing since the depths of the global financial crisis - but in line with market expectations.

Some analysts believe that stronger data including a rebounding property market and stabilising export orders show the economy is bottoming out, although any tick-up going forward may be modest.

Total January-September crude steel output stood at 542.3 million tonnes, up 1.7 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.

For most of last year, year-on-year growth for monthly steel production hovered between 7-17 percent before before slowing sharply from October 2011, when growth rates fell to below 5 percent.