During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the steel industry continued to deepen supply-side structural reforms, persistently advanced capacity governance, and achieved a cumulative reduction in production exceeding 100 million mt. Recently, at the 13th Member Congress of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), CISA Chairman Zhao Minge made the above statement. He pointed out that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the industry's capacity governance efforts will focus on "controlling increments, optimizing stock, promoting mergers and reorganizations, and facilitating exits," adhering to market-oriented and rule-of-law principles, strictly blocking new capacity additions, smoothing exit channels for outdated capacity......

Fu Linghui, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and director of the NBS's Department of Comprehensive Statistics of National Economy, stated at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office that China's economy operated generally smoothly in May, with some indicators continuing to improve, new growth momentum expanding, and the trend of high-quality development persisting, demonstrating the strong resilience and vitality of China's economy. In May, influenced by factors such as the trade-in policy for consumer goods, market sales growth accelerated. Total retail sales of social consumer goods in May were up 6.4% YoY, with the growth rate accelerating by 1.3 percentage points compared to the previous month. From January to May, service retail sales grew by 5.2%, accelerating by 0.1 percentage points compared to the period from January to April. The acceleration of consumption growth, particularly the expansion of service consumption, is also evident in its boost to related service industries. In May, the production index growth rates of the wholesale and retail industries, as well as the accommodation and catering industries, all accelerated compared to the previous month. Meanwhile, new growth drivers such as high-end manufacturing, the digital economy, and the new energy industry continued to expand, effectively promoting industrial transformation and the stable operation of the economy.

According to statistics from the China Iron and Steel Association, in the first ten-day period of June 2025, the daily average production of pig iron by key steel enterprises was 1.963 million mt, up 2.6% MoM and down 1.3% YoY; the daily average production of crude steel was 2.159 million mt, up 3.2% MoM and down 4.0% YoY; the daily average production of steel products was 2.037 million mt, down 6.4% MoM and down 3.9% YoY. In the first ten-day period of June 2025, the inventory of steel products at key steel enterprises was 15.79 million mt, increasing by 490,000 mt or 3.2% MoM, decreasing by 270,000 mt or 1.7% compared to the same ten-day period of the previous month, and decreasing by 300,000 mt or 1.9% compared to the same ten-day period of the previous year.

China Reform Holdings Corporation Ltd. and China Chengtong Holdings Group Ltd., two state-owned capital operation companies, successfully issued 39.5 billion yuan of special bonds for steady growth and expanded investment in the interbank market on the 9th, further supporting central state-owned enterprises in strengthening their investments in the "implementation of major national strategies and the development of security capabilities in key areas" and the "program of large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins," and continuing to make efforts in areas such as major equipment upgrades and technological transformations, major scientific and technological innovations, and major strategic emerging industries. This is the second batch of special bonds successfully issued by the two central state-owned enterprises since they were approved to issue special bonds with a total scale of 500 billion yuan last year. This batch of special bonds consists of 23 billion yuan issued by China Reform Holdings Corporation Ltd. and 16.5 billion yuan issued by China Chengtong Holdings Group Ltd., both with a maturity of 10 years and a final coupon rate of 2.09%.

[China's stainless steel crude steel production reached 3.5168 million mt in April 2025] On May 29, the Stainless Steel Branch of the China Iron and Steel Association released the statistical data on China's mainland stainless steel crude steel production, exports, imports, and apparent consumption for April 2025. In April 2025, China's national stainless steel crude steel production reached 3.5168 million mt, unchanged MoM from March 2025, and up 44,600 mt YoY from April 2024, representing a 1.28% increase. Among them, the production of Cr-Ni stainless steel was 1.7729 million mt, down 41,600 mt MoM, a 2.29% decrease; the production of Cr-Mn stainless steel was 983,100 mt, down 8,600 mt MoM, a 0.86% decrease; the production of Cr stainless steel was 712,700 mt, up 43,400 mt YoY, a 6.48% increase; and the production of duplex stainless steel was 48,068 mt, up 9,136 mt YoY, a 23.47% increase.

According to data from the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), in mid-May 2025, the inventory of steel products at key steel enterprises under statistical monitoring was 16.35 million mt. This represented an increase of 290,000 mt WoW, or 1.8%; an increase of 3.98 million mt compared to the beginning of the year, or 32.2%; a decrease of 350,000 mt compared to the same period of the previous month, or 2.1%; a decrease of 480,000 mt compared to the same period of the previous year, or 2.9%; and an increase of 90,000 mt compared to the same period two years ago, or 0.6%.