China's crude steel output fell 2.3 percent to 803.8 million tonnes in 2015 from the previous year, government data showed on Tuesday, the first drop in more than three decades as the economy of the world's top producer slows.
Production also declined 5.2 percent to 64.37 million tonnes in December from a year ago, according to the numbers from the National Bureau of Statistics, dented by faltering demand.
China's industrial output rose 5.9 percent in December from a year earlier, missing market expectations, as its manufacturers struggle with persistently sluggish demand at home and abroad, excess capacity and high borrowing costs.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 6.0 percent increase in factory output, easing from November's 6.2 percent.
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Full-year industrial output rose 6.1 percent year on year while retail sales rose 10.7 percent.
Retail sales climbed 11.1 percent in December from a year earlier, compared with an 11.3 percent rise expected by the market and November's 11.2 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.
Fixed-asset investment growth, a crucial driver of the economy, grew 10.0 percent in 2015 from the previous year, missing market expectations.
Economists had expected investment growth would come in at 10.2 percent - the same rate as in the first 11 months of 2015.
Growth in real estate investment slowed to 1.0 percent in 2015 from the previous year, compared with an increase of 1.3 percent in January-November.
Other data on Tuesday showed China's economy grew 6.9 percent in 2015, its slowest rate of expansion in a quarter of a century, weighed down by weak exports, factory overcapacity, a soft property market, high debt levels and slowing investment.
