During the first quarter of this year, China's production of hot-rolled and cold-rolled plates grew by 9.3% and 23.3% compared with the same period of the previous year, reaching 52.448 million and 11.033 million tons respectively.

In March, China’s manufacture industry showed much stronger demand than the past 2 months, yet still drew a downtrend line compared with the previous year. The main reason behind is weak performance of the construction industry.

From March to April, China's steel demand in manufacture industry remained stable. However, market participants concern about the growing output of laminated steel products, which may restrict the increase of steel price.