The World Steel Association (worldsteel) released its Short Range Outlook (SRO) for 2020 and 2021.

US gross domestic product (GDP) will not reach its pre-pandemic levels until well into 2022 following a sharp contraction this year, economists with major US banks said.

“Industrial activities (in China) are practically at their normal levels…Civil construction is also rising daily and steel and iron ore stocks are falling,” he said.

Decline forecasted due to excessive global output and cheap scrap metal.

Most cities in the three Chinese regions with the worst air quality beat their air pollution control targets from October to March, in sharp contrast with their poor performance in the previous heating supply season.

China is expected to see its weakened demand for steel forge a strong recovery in the second quarter as the country's infrastructure investment and production resumption gains more momentum, the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) said Wednesday.

The Vietnam Steel Association (VSA)’s member enterprises suffered a strong reduction in production and business in the first quarter of this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

China's imports of bulk commodities including iron ore, crude oil and coal, as well as essential agricultural products.