According to statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of China, in March, China's crude steel output totaled 88.3 million tons, falling by 6.4% from the same month a year ago; the output of pig iron was 7.16 million tons, a year-on-year drop of 6.2%.

In the first quarter of this year, China's crude steel and pig iron production amounted to approximately 243.4 million tons and 200 million tons, down by 10.5% and 11% year on year, respectively.

It was expected that China’s crude steel production will continue rising this month despite the current COVID-19 epidemic that may curb the growth.