According to the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), the combined benefits of member companies reached around RMB280 billion during January-November 2018, which represented a year-on-year increase of 63.54%.

The improvement in profitability was due to the central government fulfilling its objective of reducing the capacity of the steel industry between 100 and 150 million tons in advance of its original schedule in 2020.

However, Yu Yong, the president of CISA warned that the basis for profitability sustainability remained unstable due to increased costs, while steel prices have begun to decline due to factors such as demand and growth of the production.