[Ferro-Alloys.com] New capacity will be strictly prohibited in the steel sector in 2020, said the China Iron and Steel Industry Association (CISA) Monday.

The policy is a step to consolidate the progress of the supply-side structural reform, according to the CISA.

World's second-most geographically diversified steel producer, Tata Steel Limited reported a 17 percent rise in Oct-Dec sales volume to 4.84 million tons in the Indian market over the preceding quarter of Jul-Sep, while the production volume remained flattish, a company statement said, Friday.

China's steel industry needs to focus on quality and efficiency instead of expanding through scale and price competition, a senior official of the China Iron and Steel Association said.

He Wenbo, the association's Party chief, said at a forum session during the assembly that the focus of China's steel industry should be quickly transformed to upgrading and high-quality development, from cutting overcapacity, which requires higher level of environment protection and intelligentization, better product quality and portfolio, innovation in development strategies, and the establishment of a mutually beneficial and coordinately developed industry chain and ecosystem for the upstream and downstream.