Apr. 25, 2025 - In the first quarter of 2025, the effects of China's economic policies continued to be released. Production and supply grew rapidly, new quality productive forces were cultivated at a faster pace, and domestic demand continued to expand. China's GDP grew by 5.4% year-on-year, higher than the 5% growth rate for the whole of last year and also higher than the 5.3% growth rate in the first quarter of last year, maintaining a stable and improving trend as well as a steady recovery.

The output of downstream industries of refractories in China has mostly been growing, with only the output of cement, flat glass and zinc declining. In the first quarter, China's pig iron output was 216.28 million tons, up by 0.8% year-on-year; the output of crude steel was 259.33 million tons, up by 0.6% year-on-year; the output of cement and flat glass continued to decline in the first quarter; and the output of non-ferrous metals, except zinc, continued to grow, with the specific data shown in the following table:

Industry	Output in Mar 2025 (Million Ton)	YoY Growth Rate (%)	Output in Jan-Mar, 2025 (Million Ton)	YoY Growth Rate (%)
Pig iron	75.294	3.1	216.281	0.8
Crude steel	92.841	4.6	259.332	0.6
Cement	157.875	2.5	331.158	-1.4
Flat glass	81.243 (mln weight case)	-6.7	234.139 (mln weight case)	-6.4
Ferroalloy	3.356	12.4	9.236	6.1
Alumina	7.475	10.3	22.596	12.0
Electrolytic aluminum	3.746	4.4	11.066	3.2
Electrolytic copper	1.248	8.6	3.536	5.0
Lead	0.737	2.4	1.899	0.8
Zinc	0.615	-1.1	1.757	-4.1
Ten non-ferrous metals	6.919	3.7	19.851	2.0
Coke	41.294	4.1	123.267	2.4