On April 29, Jiang Wei, vice president of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), stated that the aggregate operating revenue of large and medium-sized steel enterprises in China - all CISA members - amounted to 1.4895 trillion ($0.22 trillion) in the January-March period this year, up 1.2 percent year on year, while they realized a gross profit of RMB 21.7 billion ($3.2 billion) in the given period, down 5.1 percent year on year.
The CISA official said that increasing oil prices have driven up mining costs and freight rates amid elevated geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Despite iron ore port inventories having reached a historic high of 170 million mt in April, import iron ore prices have continued to fluctuate within a limited range of $105-110/mt.
A survey conducted by CISA among its member enterprises showed that 60 percent of the surveyed companies expect that steel demand will likely rise quarter on quarter in the second quarter this year, with most of them maintaining an optimistic outlook for the market going forward.
