Steady Growth

The iron and steel sector in China saw overall stable growth in 2019, as the continued effort to cut overcapacity filtered through, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The output of crude steel saw an 8.3-percent growth to stand at 996 million tons in 2019, marking a new all-time high, while pig iron output went up 5.3 percent from one year earlier to 809 million tons, data from the MIIT showed.

Driven by the rising market demand, the total consumption of crude steel across the country reached about 940 million tons, up 8 percent year on year.

The industry, however, reported remarkable shrinking in profit led by factors like accelerated output growth, higher costs of raw materials as well as lower prices of steel products.

The aggregate profit of

China Iron and Steel Industry Association members totaled 189 billion yuan ($27 billion) in the past year, 30.9 percent lower than the previous year.

Meanwhile, the exports and imports of steel products contract

($96.34 million), increasing by 14 percent year on year.

The commission said local departments including customs, bonded zones and ports have teamed up to help cross-border e-commerce enterprises resume work and production and solve problems of employment, as well as streamline the customs declaration process.

Up to now, 11 warehouses of major cross-border enterprises in Tianjin including Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao, China’s online retailer Jd.com and Kaola have resumed work, with more than 1,000 employees back to their posts, according to the commission.

Daily reported on March 16.

During the epidemic, short videos have become a part of many people’s lives, and the number of short video platform users has increased rapidly. According to statistics cited by the newspaper, the number of daily active users of Douyin reached 311 million during the Spring Festival holiday, up 93.1 percent from the same period in the previous year.

People also use short video platforms and video websites to get timely information about epidemic prevention and control. For example, the Yangshipin app, a new media platform of the China Media Group, gained popularity after livestreaming the construction of the Huoshenshan and Leishenshan hospitals in Wuhan.

Figures cited by the newspaper show that travel-themed and food-themed videos have also attracted many viewers amid the epidemic.