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Baosteel: China steel market still under pressure

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-25 19:24

Baoshan Iron & Steel Co (Baosteel), the listed unit of China's largest steelmaker, said on Wednesday it expected the domestic steel market to remain under relatively heavy pressure with no fundamental turnaround in demand from key steel-using sectors.

Related readings:  Weak demand, idle capacity dim steel market's recovery  Steelmakers' earnings drop on weak demand  Steel trade faces stiff challenges  Baoshan Steel shaves prices due to glut

"The company's downstream orders have recently improved compared with the last quarter, but they have still fallen markedly from a year earlier," the company said.

It added that a three-month delay in the restart of its No 1 blast furnace, which had been shut until mid-November last year for maintenance and resumed output in February, reduced its pig iron production by about 1 million tons.

China's steelmakers have been struggling with a sharp drop-off in demand as economic growth cools, and many cut production late last year in response to falling domestic prices.