According to the Nigeria Attack reported in 1st Sep, Nigeria spends about $3.3 billion a year on steel imports, Nippon Minerals and Steel Development Minister Olamulcan Adibate said on Monday Aug.31.

Baosteel expects China's vehicle production to drop 6% year on year to 24.2 million units in 2020, improving from a 11.8% year-on-year drop in January-July.

"These difficult conditions make the industry even more vulnerable to surges in imports."

Vietnam spent more than 5.6 billion U.S. dollars importing over 9.7 million tons of steel and iron in the first eight months of this year.

The period saw an 11% fall in Russian steel consumption to little over 19 million mt, according to Evraz.

Japan's steel exports were 2.4895 million tons in July, down 18.7% from a year earlier, up 2.75% from a month earlier, according to data released recently by the Japan Iron and Steel Federation.

Mr Acharya also explained that iron ore prices are at six-year high and international steel prices in August, too, have increased.

For the period from April to June, Baosteel earned 2.47 billion yuan, a jump of 60.6% from the first quarter.