Fushun Special Steel, a major Chinese steel maker, announced Monday that its net profit in the first quarter this year increased 23.15 percent year on year due to strong market demand.

Its net profit topped 4.88 million yuan (714,810 U.S. dollars) in the first three months, the steel producer said in its first-quarter report filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Total revenue in the first quarter leaped 39.6 percent from a year earlier to 1.23 billion yuan, said the report. The Liaoning Province-based firm attributed this to the rising sales and stable steel product prices.