On April 16, Shih-Chun Lee, deputy secretary general of the China Iron and Steel Industry Association (CISA), said that the average annual increase rate of steel consumption in China in the country's 12th five-year plan period (2011-15) will decline to a one-digit figure, as compared with 12 percent for the 11th five-year plan period (2006-10).
The CISA official pointed out that the targets for the 2011-15 period require an average annual domestic steel output of 664 million mt during the period to support national development. However, excessive expansion by some steel-dependent industries in China has resulted in higher-than-expected demand for steel, he said.