Qu Xiuli, vice president of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), stated on October 26 at a press conference on steel industry results for the third quarter that the production of the Chinese steel industry maintained a rising trend during the first three quarters this year, especially in the third quarter, while adding that raw material prices have been at high levels, pushing up production costs.
At the press conference, the CISA forecast that China’s crude steel output in 2020 will exceed 1.0 billion mt, increasing by 3-5 percent year on year. Moreover, steel enterprises in China will likely register an aggregate gross profit of RMB 180 billion ($25.8 billion) in 2020, recording a slight year-on-year decline from 2019, when their aggregate gross profit was RMB 188.994 billion.