* Spot iron ore still up 10 pct on week, biggest gain in a year
* China March crude steel output at record high
* China economy grows at slowest pace since 2009 in Q1 (Updates futures prices)
By Manolo Serapio Jr
MANILA, April 15 (Reuters) - Iron ore and steel futures in China pulled back further on Friday from an early-week rally that lifted prices to multi-month highs amid signs of a pickup in demand in the world's top consumer.
Spot iron ore has similarly retreated, but was still up 10 percent so far on the week as firmer steel prices spurred buying interest in the raw material.
The most-traded September iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange DCIOcv1 closed down 3.3 percent at 408.50 yuan ($63) a tonne. It touched a 17-month high of 432 yuan on Thursday.
On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, steel rebar for October delivery SRBcv1 slipped 2.1 percent to 2,300 yuan a tonne. It spiked to an 11-month peak of 2,435 yuan on Wednesday.
"Steel demand was also expected to slow on views that steel end-users had accumulated enough steel inventories for some time and were waiting for steel prices to fall before repurchasing," Commonwealth Bank of Australia said in a note.
A pickup in seasonal demand lifted China's crude steel output to a record high of 70.65 million tonnes in March, government data showed.
"This is really surprising. Steel output will likely rise further in the second quarter due to improving demand, but we still expect full-year output to drop slightly from 2015 due to supply-side reforms and tight credit," said Yu Yang, an analyst at Shenyin & Wanguo Futures in Shanghai. ore for immediate delivery to China's Tianjin port .IO62-CNI=SI dropped 2.2 percent to $58.60 a tonne on Thursday, after touching a five-week high of $59.90 the day before, according to The Steel Index.
The spot benchmark is still up 10 percent for the week, its strongest such gain since April last year.
Iron ore could find firm support at $50 a tonne, analysts at Sucden Financial say.
"As policymakers in China remain committed in their supportive efforts we could see traction built around these levels with spikes higher as sentiment once again overrides the fundamentals, they said in a report.
"However, aside from some potential for tentative spikes towards $70 ... we anticipate spot iron ore prices will be capped on the upside by ample supply and lower per capita consumption, which could eventually drag prices lower towards the tail-end of 2016."
China's economy grew at its slowest pace in seven years in the first quarter. Indicators from the country's consumer, investment and factory sectors, however, point to nascent signs that the slowdown in the world's second largest economy may be bottoming out. ($1 = 6.4828 Chinese yuan)