That month, a high-speed train linking Beijing and Chengde city in Hebei went into operation.

Deng Jun, executive vice-president of Aux Group, said, "The rising prices of aluminum, copper and steel (iron ore) have forced us and the whole industry to raise product prices."

Sales revenues of the enterprises reached 1.54 trillion yuan, up 52.28 percent compared with a year ago, showed the data.

Nanjing Iron and Steel Group released ferrosilicon bidding price.

The 2109 ferrosilicon contract price on ZCE closed at 7,904 yuan per ton on May 10.

Export tariffs on ferrosilicon, ferrochrome, and high-purity pig iron would be raised to 25 percent, 20 percent, and 15 percent, respectively.

In the January-March period, crude steel output rose 15.6 percent year on year to 271 million tonnes.

The measures will go into effect on June 1, the ministry said.