Chinese steel is having its moment of glory

With the change of times, China’s iron and steel has strong toughness. It has reached the top of the world with its super-large size, showing unprecedented strength and ushering in its own highlight moment.

In 2022, global crude steel production was 1,831.5 million tons, down 4.3% from the previous year. Among the top 10 countries in crude steel production, only India and Iran saw steel production increase, up 5.5 per cent and 8 per cent respectively. Other countries and regions saw year-on-year declines.

China remains the world’s largest producer of crude steel, at a billion tonnes, not just ahead of the rest of the world, but so far ahead that it is certain that no country will surpass it for a long time to come. The 21st century is the century of Chinese steel.

India retained its position as the world’s second largest producer of steel and increased production to 125 million tonnes. That is far more than the United States and Japan, but far less than the steel output of Hebei, China’s largest steel province, and less than the annual output of China Baowu, the country’s largest steel producer.

Japan and the United States ranked third and fourth respectively in global steel production, both reaching 80 million tons, of which 89.2 million tons in Japan and 80 million tons in the United States. That is not only less than Hebei’s steel production, it is less than Jiangsu’s steel production, and it is only a little more than Shandong’s steel production.

Russia’s steel production fell during the war, by 7.2%, but it still produced 71.5 million tons of crude steel, keeping it the world’s fifth-largest producer, though it is a shadow of the Soviet Union’s steel heyday. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is still going on, and it has reached the level of World War II, and the flood of steel is still the main mode of the war, which reflects not only the level of force but also the steel production capacity of the two countries.

South Korea, Germany, Turkey, Brazil and Iran shared the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th spots, respectively, showing no change from the previous year. The UK, once a steel powerhouse, ranks 27th in the world with a paltry 6.1 million tonnes of steel produced, and has seen a sharp decline over the past year, down 15.6 per cent.

One of the most spectacular scenes in the global industrial field in the 21st century is that the global steel center has moved to China, and more wonderful performances will continue to be staged in the land of China.

In 2022, China’s crude steel output was 1.013 billion tons, down 2.1 percent year on year, accounting for 55.3 percent of the world’s total crude steel output and exceeding 1 billion tons for three consecutive years. In 2022, China’s steel industry achieved a total profit of 36.55 billion yuan, down 91.3 percent year on year. The profit in the first half was 82.61 billion yuan and the loss in the second half was 46.06 billion yuan.

In terms of regional distribution, in 2022, a total of 20 provinces will reduce production, 6 provinces will increase production, and the top three provinces are Fujian, Guangdong and Chongqing, which will increase 18.15%, 12.38% and 8.43%, respectively. The top three provinces in terms of reduction are Qinghai, Jilin and Xinjiang, with 35.04%, 11.82% and 10.55% respectively. From the comparison of the two sets of data, the developed regions have a bit of a strong taste.

In 2022, Hebei will remain the largest steel province with 211 million tons, more than India, the world’s second largest steel producer. The second largest steel production province is Jiangsu, the crude steel output of 116 million tons, and India’s crude steel output is basically equal, far more than Japan’s annual crude steel output; Shandong is the third largest steel producing province in China, producing 76 million tons of crude steel, which is close to the national crude steel production of the United States and more than the annual crude steel production of Russia.

China Baowu is the world’s only output of more than 100 million steel enterprises. In 2022, China Baowu produced 132 million tons of crude steel, with an operating revenue of 1.16 trillion yuan and a total profit of 31.28 billion yuan. In the harsh winter of the steel industry in 2022, China Baowu still achieved profit, and its operating revenue entered the era of one trillion yuan for the first time, which is the first enterprise in China’s steel industry whose operating revenue exceeded one trillion yuan. The grand pattern of “one hundred million tons of Baowu and one trillion yuan of revenue” shows the strong competitive strength of China’s steel market.

China Baowu continues to remain the world’s largest steel company, the dominant position in the global steel industry, its output exceeds the annual crude steel production of the United States, can be said to be rich. In 2022, China Baowu was ranked No. 50 on the global Fortune 500 list for the first time, reaching No. 44. In 2023, China Baowu will continue to climb the Fortune Global 500 list and continue to show the strong strength of Chinese steel companies to the world.

Although strong enough, China Baowu is still growing fast. Since 2019, China Baowu has reorganized Masteel Group, TiSCO Group, Chongqing Steel, Kunming Steel Holding, Xinyu Steel and Sinosteel Group. Its goal is to become the world’s first-class manufacturing service provider of carbon steel, special steel and stainless steel covering the whole industry and the leader of low-carbon development. It strives to reach 200 million tons of crude steel by 2025. By 2035, it will account for 15% of the global market and become a global super giant steel enterprise.

With the rapid growth of China’s giant steel enterprises, the concentration of China’s steel industry is also steadily increasing. In 2022, the CR10 of China’s steel industry exceeded 42%, an increase of 8 percentage points compared with 2015. The world’s No. 1 steelmaker is China Baowu, with six of the world’s top 10 steelmakers. Among the world’s top 50 steel companies, 27 are in China, far ahead of the rest of the world.

With their hard work and wisdom, Chinese steelmakers have promoted Chinese steel to the supreme position, supported China’s position as the world’s largest manufacturer, spread Chinese-made products to every corner of the world, and set off waves of Chinese-made shock waves across the globe. China’s steel is a solid base for the rise of a great power. In an uncertain world, we can see a bright future for China.