China Daily reported that industry under pressure from overcapacity and environmental protection requirements, but companies will also have new opportunities. China's steel industry will face both challenges and opportunities this year as most of the provinces have adjusted their GDP growth target to a lower level.

After the central government decided not to evaluate local government's performances based on GDP growth, about half of the provinces cut their 2014 GDP growth target to lower than 10% for slower but reasonable economic development.

Mr Li Xinchuang head of the China Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute said that "As a consequence of the lower GDP growth targets, domestic steel consumption will be weakened this year. Meanwhile, the companies don't have to keep production up under pressure from local governments' administrative intervention."

Mr Xinchuang said that Hebei, Jiangsu and Shandong provinces, all big steel producers cut their 2014 GDP growth rate by 0.6 to 1 percentage point, which will affect downstream steel demand and upstream production. Nationally, the domestic demand for steel products will grow slightly at 3.2% to 715 million tonnes this year, according to estimation of the institute.

Mr Zhang Lin a senior researcher at the Lange Steel Information Research Center said that "In fact, it's a good opportunity for China's steel companies to adjust their development mode and improve industrial structure when the growth for steel demand is slowing down."