Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2025-01-03 Origin: Site
Structural changes are taking place in the steel industry
At present, China's economy has shifted from a stage of high-speed growth to a stage of high-quality development. From the perspective of the downstream industry, the real estate market has entered a period of deep adjustment, and the intensity of infrastructure construction has slowed down, which has brought certain challenges to the stable operation of the steel industry.
"There is a structural change happening in the steel industry." Liu Biao, deputy director of the market research department of the China Iron and Steel Industry Association, on the one hand, reflected in the consumption end, one change is the proportion of steel consumption in the construction industry has declined, and the other change is the increase of plate varieties in the steel consumption in the construction industry.
"The other side is on the supply side." Liu Biao further explained that the supply side of the steel industry shows a trend of variety structure differentiation and steel enterprise development type differentiation. He believes that actively promoting the industrial chain to go out is an effective way to resolve the current contradictions.
"For some time to come, green and low-carbon will become the key word for the high-quality development of China's steel industry." Liu Biao believes that this is the inevitable path for the development of the steel industry, which is currently mainly facing the challenge of the EU Carbon Border Regulation mechanism (CBAM). He revealed that the Steel Association is issuing relevant guidelines for CBAM data filling research.
"Chinese steel products and raw materials have been widely involved in globalization." Zhao Nan, chief steel varieties researcher of the Economic development Research Center of the metallurgical industry, said that taking seamless steel pipes as an example, with the active development of global oil and gas, driving the growth of seamless steel pipe demand, since 2021, China's seamless steel pipe production has maintained a rapid growth trend, and the output of more than 35 million tons in 2023, and the export volume reached 5.66 million tons, both hitting a record high.
"However, there is still a gap in the global layout of the head steel enterprises." Zhao Nan frankly said that according to the list of China's top 100 multinational companies in 2023 and the multinational index, although there are 6 companies in the steel industry, the multinational index is lower than the average.
Zhao Nan believes that China's steel industry to promote globalization has a certain urgency. "This is the industry's choice after entering the adjustment period." "The international development of China's steel industry conforms to the requirements of a higher level open economy in the new era, and is conducive to promoting the optimization of the global layout, transformation and upgrading of China's steel industry and high-quality development," he said, citing the evolution of supply and demand and structural adjustment of the steel industry in Japan, the United States and other countries.
"Unlike industrial developed countries, China is the world's largest steel consumer, the apparent consumption of crude steel is much higher than that of industrial developed countries, and the process of industrialization and urbanization in China has not ended, in the future for a long period of time, China's steel consumption will be in the arc top area." Zhao Nan proposed that the large-scale structural optimization and adjustment of China's steel industry is about to begin, and leading enterprises are expected to grow through mergers and acquisitions.
Around the digital and intelligent development of the steel industry, CAI Yongzheng, president of Jiangsu Fushi Data Research Institute, introduced that the current steel industry is transforming from "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing". Big data and artificial intelligence technology have gradually penetrated into all aspects of steel production, such as product design, hot metal quality prediction, process control, product quality judgment, equipment fault diagnosis, pre-iron procurement and ingredient optimization, production planning and scheduling.
The seamless steel pipe industry is in an important transition period
"In the past year, China's steel industry has faced numerous challenges, but overall it has maintained stable development. At the same time, we see that the structure of steel consumption is constantly changing, and the plate continues to be stronger than the long material. For the seamless steel pipe industry, it is now in an important transition period, and more and more steel enterprises are beginning to adjust their product structure and invest in seamless steel pipes." Gao Bo, co-chairman of Shanghai Steel Union, introduced in his speech.
"In recent years, China's seamless steel pipe production capacity has expanded rapidly, the national total production capacity has reached 45 million tons, and the output has exceeded 30 million tons." Although the domestic demand performance is not satisfactory, but China's seamless steel pipe exports continue to hit a record high." Gao Bo said.
"At present, China's steel pipe production accounts for 56.6% ~ 57.6% of the world's total steel pipe production, of which seamless steel pipe production accounts for 67% ~ 70% of the world." China Steel Structure Association steel pipe branch senior consultant Zhuang Gang introduced. Data show that in 2023, China's seamless steel pipe production reached 31.310,800 tons, reaching a historical peak.
"Recently, The State Council issued the Action Plan to promote large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods for new, which will bring a large market, we should be confident about it." China Petroleum and Chemical Group senior expert Xiong Jianxin introduced that the new energy steel pipe mainly has wind power pipe, solar pipe, geothermal pipe, hydrogen pipe and so on.
Taking petrochemical pipe production enterprises as an example, Xiong Jianxin especially reminded that billet outsourcing enterprises should pay attention to the stability of the supply chain, pay attention to the heating range and temperature control level of the heating furnace.
"In the first quarter of this year, China's seamless pipe market showed a price shock, a slight rebound in profits, a weak recovery in supply, a high factory warehouse, and a sharp decline in raw material prices." Shanghai Steel seamless pipe analyst Chen Kaiyu so summed up the market trend during this period of time, "Overall, China's seamless pipe market presents a 'weak supply and demand' pattern."
From the perspective of industrial concentration, Chen Kaiyu introduced that in recent years, China's seamless pipe industry concentration has gradually increased, and the industry has shown an obvious phenomenon: "steel pipe enterprises are strong and strong, the more the head enterprise efficiency is better, the higher the capacity utilization rate."
"It must be recognized that demand may be late, but not absent. Last year, China's crude steel production to achieve flat control, production in many places is still growing. The fact that so much steel ends up being consumed shows that the demand is still there." Shanghai Steel Lianlian steel business group deputy general manager Feng Jinyun said.
