Shanghai | China's steelmakers warn production will fall at least 5 per cent in the first quarter due to record high inventories and weak domestic demand after the coronavirus outbreak shut down the country's transport networks and halted construction projects.

In bad news for Australia's multi-billion iron ore export industry, steelmakers and analysts said furnaces and production lines were being closed because it was difficult to meet orders for March and April while transport movement around the country was being tightly controlled.