Cost decline is greater than price decline, overall profitability of hot-rolled steel plants is expected to improve by the year 2025.

In 2025, the overall hot-rolled coil prices maintained a low-level fluctuating trend, but steel mills managed to escape from the loss situation, with most of the year spent in a profitable state. Only in the fourth quarter did hot-rolled carbon steel experience losses. The improvement in corporate profits has led to a recovery in the vitality of hot-rolled coil production enterprises. Analyst Li Huan from Zhuochuang Information analyzed that in 2025, the cost line of hot-rolled coil operated below the price for most of the time, leaving relatively sufficient profit space for steel mills. During this time, the price of hot-rolled coil fell slower than the cost during the decline, but rose faster than the cost during the uptrend.