Between 2002 and 2014 China implemented a programme of rapid industrialisation and urbanisation. The associated growth in the construction sector's demand for crude steel led to an increase in the annual demand for iron of 300 per cent. China's annual iron ore imports increased by around 750 per cent and imports of metallurgical coal (the other major commodity input in steel production) also soared. The rapid increase in demand saw world iron ore and metallurgical coal prices peak at more than 600 per cent above 2002 levels, with the increases due almost entirely to the rise in Chinese demand. The onset of the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2008 saw prices and prices and volumes fall, but this effect was temporary as China implemented a RMB 4trn economic stimulus programme in late 2008.