Steel prices in China, the world's biggest steel producer and consumer, rose mildly last week as market sentiment improved slightly but demand remained subdued, latest industry data showed.
China's steel industry has long been plagued by overcapacity, which has become a major drag on China's growth in the past few years.
The sector's profitability improved in recent months, partly due to the government's efforts to reduce capacity, but analysts warned that excessive supply remains huge.
China has shut down steel plants with total capacity of over 90 million tonnes over the past five years and plans to reduce output by an additional 100 million to 150 million tonnes by 2020.
As of July, China had achieved 47 percent of its target to cut steel capacity by 45 million tonnes this year.