China's steel industry is accelerating technology-driven and low-carbon transformation efforts, including wider robot adoption, as steelmakers seek to strengthen resilience amid persistent supply-demand pressures and a more challenging external environment, industry officials said.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the country's crude steel output reached 248 million metric tons in the first quarter, down 4.6 percent year-on-year, while apparent crude steel consumption fell 4.4 percent year-on-year to 220 million tons.

Despite declines in both output and consumption, the industry continues to face pressure from soft demand and oversupply, analysts said.

Against the backdrop of capacity reduction and quality upgrading, steelmakers are striving to enhance resilience through structural adjustment and technological upgrading, said Diao Li, deputy secretary-general of the China Iron and Steel Association and director of its information and statistics department.

Major steel enterprises tracked by the association posted combined operating revenue of 1.49 trillion yuan ($205.8 billion) during the period, up 1.2 percent year-on-year. Their operating costs rose 1.5 percent to 1.41 trillion yuan, while total profits stood at 21.7 billion yuan, down 5.1 percent.

Steelmakers should align production more closely with sales and profitability, while refining product structures and developing more competitive products tailored to market demand, Diao said during the first quarter industry information conference held recently.

He added that enterprises should steadily advance high-end, green and intelligent transformation based on their own conditions.

As steelmakers seek new growth drivers and productivity gains, robotics and intelligent manufacturing are emerging as key areas of transformation.

The steel industry serves as a key supplier of materials for the robotics sector, providing specialty steels for critical structures including robot power systems, transmission systems and components, said Feng Chao, deputy secretary-general of the association and director of its science and environmental protection department.

"Steel materials are well-suited to complex working conditions, featuring high strength and strong weather resistance. They are also environmentally friendly and recyclable throughout the full life cycle, helping robots reduce carbon emissions," Feng said, adding that there remains broad room for expanded applications in lightweight and high-end materials.

At the same time, the steel industry is also a major application market for industrial robots. Robots and intelligent equipment are increasingly replacing dangerous and labor-intensive tasks in steel plants, Feng said.

Amid the domestic industrial transformation drive, Chinese steel producers are also confronted with mounting external challenges stemming from global decarbonization rule-making and trade barriers.

Amid the implementation of the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism in January this year, CISA said the default emission values set under the mechanism are nearly twice the actual emission levels of Chinese steel products and significantly higher than those of countries with similar technological capabilities.

While the short-term impact on China's steel industry is expected to be limited, rising compliance costs and the gradual phaseout of free quotas will increase pressure on exporters in the coming years, Feng said.

The Ministry of Commerce has said previously that the EU's related rules ignore China's progress in green and low-carbon development and impose unfairly high default carbon intensity values on Chinese products.

The association has called for stronger China-EU dialogue, improved carbon data coordination and the accelerated establishment of a national-level data service platform to help reduce compliance costs and support the industry's green transition and long-term competitiveness.