China's steel industry suffers first contraction in nearly 35 years

More than half of top producers in the China Iron and Steel Association suffered losses in 2015, making for a combined loss of RMB64.5 billion (US$9.8 billion) last year, The Financial Times reported. The group saw profits of RMB22.6 billion in 2014, but suffered from a sharp fall in demand that had resulted in a 2.3% dip in production–the first contraction for the industry in almost 35 years. The group blamed industry losses on a collapse in domestic prices that brought its price index down more than 30% over the course of 2015. Li-Gang Liu, China chief economist at ANZ, said year-on-year steel output fell 12% in both December and early January.