The year of the great turnaround

China's steel industry shines again on capacity cuts in 2017 and better quality

China's steel industry notched up a creditable achievement last year. It improved product quality, which helped increase prices and boosted companies' financial performance. All this was made possible by rigorous capacity cuts, in response to the government's call to the sector to deal with overcapacity, rationalize and modernize.

Shanghai benchmark steel rebar prices gained more than 50 percent last year, hitting 5,230 yuan ($815) per metric ton on Dec 5, the highest level since August 2008, according to steel trading platform Xiben New Line E-Commerce.