Its exports totaled 48.44 billion yuan, up 3.6 percent year-on-year, while imports hit 38.23 billion yuan, up 14.4 percent, data from Shijiazhuang Customs shows.

The new robots are performing unbinding integration, sleeve unloading, slag removal, grinding and labeling.

Australian mining giant BHP Group said on Monday that it has signed an agreement for piloting of carbon capture and utilization technology with China's HBIS Group Co Ltd.

The plant will use biogas feedstock and iron ore as a catalyst to also produce 380 t/yr of graphitic carbon, he said.

Indian private-sector producer JSW Steel's crude steel output rose by 10pc from a year earlier to 1.73mn t.

Demand has remained steadier for longer than the market had expected, with talk of a recession pushing further out into the year and lessening in severity.

US integrated steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs has increased its flat steel prices by $100/short ton (st), targeting a minimum hot-rolled coil (HRC) price of $1,200/st.

The Argus US plate ex-works assessment has been relatively flat at around $1,480/st since early December.