OREANDA-NEWS. April 19, 2012. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology noted greater efforts will be made to boost the development of steel e-commerce in the future, since the e-commerce and logistics sectors have received increasing attention from the government.

Last year the steel distribution sector, on average, had a profit margin of less than 1 percent due to inventory and liquidity pressures. This challenge seems unlikely to ease in the next couple of years.

A source said the supply and demand structure of the domestic steel industry is changing substantially. Steel distributors are in the crucial period of transition since the driving force is shifting from the manufacturer-led method to the consumer-oriented style.