Last year, the economic benefit of China’s iron and steel industry reached the best level in history.

Reporters recently learned from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: last year, China’s iron and steel industry continued to promote structural reform on the supply side, industrial structure continued to optimize, market order improved significantly, and the industry’s economic benefits reached the best level in history.

In terms of output, the output of pig iron, crude steel and steel (including duplicate materials) in China last year was 771 million tons, 928 million tons and 1.106 billion tons, respectively, increasing by 3.0%, 6.6% and 8.5% over the same period of last year, with crude steel production reaching a record high. Last year, the apparent consumption of crude steel in China reached 870 million tons, an increase of 14.8% over the same period of last year, and the self-sufficiency rate in China exceeded 98%.

From the price point of view, due to supply side structural adjustment, environmental protection supervision, strong market demand and other factors, China’s steel prices were running at a high level last year. The comprehensive steel price index averaged 115.8 points, an increase of 7.6% over the same period last year, and the industry benefits reached the best level in history. Last year, China’s steel industry realized a profit of 470.4 billion yuan, an increase of 39.3% over the previous year.