Chinese steel industry recovers in April

CHINA’S steel industry recovered last month, a purchasing manager’s index for the sector showed yesterday.

The PMI for the steel industry rose 7.6 points month on month to 57.3 in April, according to the China Steel Logistics Professional Committee. A reading above 50 marks growth and below 50 suggests contraction. It’s the first time China’s steel PMI has beaten 50 in the past two years and marked its peak since March 2013.

The PMI’s gain suggested that both production and steel prices have risen for the past few months. In April, the steel production index surged 10.6 percent from March to 60.4 — the highest since March 2013.

Prices of deformed steel bar in the Shanghai market have rebounded 52.5 percent this year to 2,927.30 yuan (US$452) per ton yesterday.

The price gain benefited 96 Chinese steel firms which had a gross revenue of 219.6 billion yuan and total net earnings of 2.6 billion yuan in March — the first monthly net earnings since the second half of 2015.

Official data showed investment in real estate rose 6.2 percent year on year in the first quarter and in construction 19.6 percent, which promoted steel trading activities.