China continues to produce more steel than the rest of the world, COMBINED

[Shotgunner51]

Steel Output Rises in China, Falls in U.S.
Joseph S. Pete joseph.pete@nwi.com, (219) 933-3316 Updated 4 hrs ago
http://www.nwitimes.com/business/st...cle_83212306-723c-50d0-8714-e553f641c865.html

Steel production rose in China and fell in the United States in October, according to the World Steel Association.

The United States made 6.4 million tons of crude steel in October, a 2.5 percent decrease as compared to October 2015. China produced 68.5 million tons of steel last month, a 4 percent year-over-year increase.

China made 10 times more steel than the United States and more than half of the world’s steel in October. The 65 countries reporting to the World Steel Association produced 136.5 million tons last month, a 3.3 percent increase. Steelmaking capacity utilization was 69.6 percent worldwide in October, as compared to 68.2 percent the previous October.

In October, steel output increased in India, Italy, Turkey, Japan and Russia. It fell in Germany, Spain and Ukraine. India posted the biggest year-over-year gain of 12.3 percent.


India, China, Japan Drive Global Steel Output in Oct
22 Nov 2016 05:56 PM | Source: PTI
http://m.moneycontrol.com/news/worl...pan-drive-global-steel-outputoct_8003481.html

Global steel production rose by a healthy 3.3 per cent to 136.5 million tonnes (mt) last month against October 2015 aided by growth in major producers like India, China and Japan, data from World Steel Association showed.

"India's crude steel production was 8.3 mt in October 2016, up by 12.3 per cent on October 2015," the association (World Steel) said.

China's crude steel production for October 2016 was 68.5 mt, a rise of 4 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), while Japan produced 9 mt of the metal, up 0.6 per cent, it added.

In the EU, Germany produced 3.5 mt of steel in October 2016, a decrease of 3.7 per cent y-o-y, while Italy produced 2.1 mt of crude steel, up 11 per cent.

Spain's steel production fell 10.5 per cent year-on-year to 1.2 mt in October 2016, whereas Turkey registered a growth of 8.6 per cent at 3 mt.

In October, Russia produced 5.9 mt of crude steel, up 2 per cent from October 2015. Ukraine produced 1.9 mt, down 6.1 per cent compared to the same month in 2015.

The US produced 6.4 mt steel in October, a decline of 2.5 per cent yoy whereas production of the metal in Brazil fell 8.8 per cent to 2.7 mt.

 

[TaiShang]

World's second largest steelmaker emerges in China
By Sun Wenyu (People's Daily Online) December 01, 2016

China Baowu Steel Group Cooperation (CBSGC), the result of a merger between China's two steel giants Baosteel and Wuhan Steel, was officially established on Dec. 1, becoming the world’s second largest steelmaker after ArcelorMittal.

A grand opening ceremony was held in Shanghai on Dec. 1, attended by Han Zheng, the Communist Party Secretary of Shanghai; Yang Xiong, mayor of Shanghai; and Xu Kezhen, vice governor of Hubei province. The president of CBSGC, Ma Guoqiang, remarked that the company will optimize resource allocation and work for synergistic effects within the world-class enterprise.

With assets valued at 730 billion RMB, CBSGC will achieve a yearly revenue of more than 330 billion RMB. The group now has a total of 228,000 employees, and its output ranks second in the world. About 60 million tons of crude steel will be produced by the company each year.

In line with a government effort to concentrate the scattered industry, Baowu Steel has cut a total of 10 Mtpa of its steel capacity in 2016. In addition, the group is planning to cap its capacity at around 75 million tons worldwide next year, a figure that still makes the company the second largest steelmaker in the world.

 

[AndrewJin]

88, Wuhan Steel.
慢走不送

Everyone takes bullet trains at Wuhan HSR Station can see Wuhan Steel.

 

[ahojunk]

Chinese steel giant established following key merger
2016-12-01 15:24 | Xinhua | Editor: Mo Hong'e

A new steel group, whose annual output will be China's largest and the world's second largest, was established Thursday in Shanghai following the merger of two major steelmakers.

China Baowu Steel Group was created by the merger of Shanghai-based Baosteel Group and Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation in central China's Hubei Province.

The combined steel output of the two groups totals about 60 million tonnes, exceeding that of Hesteel, China's current top producer, and putting it at second place worldwide, after ArcelorMittal, according to the 2015 data from the World Steel Association.

The new group is estimated to have 228,000 employees, general assets worth 730 billion yuan (106 billion U.S. dollars) and an annual revenue of 330 billion yuan.

The merger is an important move to promote China's economic restructuring and improve the competitiveness of Chinese steelmakers in the international market, said Ma Guoqiang, chairman of Baowu.

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission approved the merger in September as the country fights to cut steel overcapacity.

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of steel. Annual steel production in China is 1.2 billion tonnes, but the country aims to reduce steel production by 45 million tonnes in 2016.

China has shut down steel plants with a total capacity of over 90 million tonnes over the past five years and plans to reduce output by an additional 100 million to 150 million tonnes by 2020.

 

[Shotgunner51]

Chinese steel giant established following key merger
2016-12-01 15:24 | Xinhua | Editor: Mo Hong'e

A new steel group, whose annual output will be China's largest and the world's second largest, was established Thursday in Shanghai following the merger of two major steelmakers.

China Baowu Steel Group was created by the merger of Shanghai-based Baosteel Group and Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation in central China's Hubei Province.

The combined steel output of the two groups totals about 60 million tonnes, exceeding that of Hesteel, China's current top producer, and putting it at second place worldwide, after ArcelorMittal, according to the 2015 data from the World Steel Association.

The new group is estimated to have 228,000 employees, general assets worth 730 billion yuan (106 billion U.S. dollars) and an annual revenue of 330 billion yuan.

The merger is an important move to promote China's economic restructuring and improve the competitiveness of Chinese steelmakers in the international market, said Ma Guoqiang, chairman of Baowu.

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission approved the merger in September as the country fights to cut steel overcapacity.

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of steel. Annual steel production in China is 1.2 billion tonnes, but the country aims to reduce steel production by 45 million tonnes in 2016.

China has shut down steel plants with a total capacity of over 90 million tonnes over the past five years and plans to reduce output by an additional 100 million to 150 million tonnes by 2020.

Good news.

Steel is a capital-intensive, high-tech and strategic industry, that's why I said more M&A within border (and cross-border) to build bigger firms, make R&D more efficient and technologically more competitive.

Baosteel has been bashing Brussels (AcelorMittal) pretty badly, now that merger is done, wish the new company -Baowu - can do a complete KO. It's gonna be a bloodbath, other state organs from foreign affairs to sovereign funds should provide cover for Baowu.

 

[ahojunk]

Good news.

Steel is a capital-intensive, high-tech and strategic industry, that's why I said more M&A within border (and cross-border) to build bigger firms, make R&D more efficient and technologically more competitive.

Baosteel has been bashing Brussels (AcelorMittal) pretty badly, now that merger is done, wish the new company -Baowu - can do a complete KO. It's gonna be a bloodbath, other state organs from foreign affairs to sovereign funds should provide cover for Baowu.

.
How are foreign companies going to compete with the ever larger behemoths coming out from China?

These companies must reform/restructure if they want to survive. But can they?

So, the initial pressure on China to reduce its steel output on the pretext of dumping is now coming back to bite them. What an irony!

 

[Shotgunner51]

.
How are foreign companies going to compete with the ever larger behemoths coming out from China?

These companies must reform/restructure if they want to survive. But can they?

Whatever restructuring won't help, they can't defend against BaoSteel before (don't forget BaoSteel's tech advantage), let alone now after the Bao-Wu merger. The only thing they can do is crying to EU bureaucrats for protection. If it hasn't been the protective EU, they would had been sunk by BaoSteel long ago.

 

[tranquilium]

We have banned exporting our raw material since this year, it is good to support our steel companies. I believe we can compete better in the future.

Eh? Since when did Indonesia banned exporting raw materials?

Upon checking, I see that in 2014, there is an edict calling ban on unprocessed ore (which means coal, one of Indonesia's primary exports, is not on the list), but it is amended before wenting in effect, "allowing base metals including copper, manganese, lead, titanium, zinc and tin to be exported in concentrate until 2017"
http://www.mining.com/trade-minister-all-indonesia-ore-and-concentrate-shipments-halted-79220/
And earlier this year it is annouced that the ban will be eased/lifted in 2017.
http://www.mining.com/indonesia-to-ease-mineral-export-ban-from-2017/

 

[AndrewJin]

Whatever restructuring won't help, they can't defend against BaoSteel before (don't forget BaoSteel's tech advantage), let alone now after the Bao-Wu merger. The only thing they can do is crying to EU bureaucrats for protection. If it hasn't been the protective EU, they would had been sunk by BaoSteel long ago.

It'a good Wuhan Steel is one part of BaoSteel!

抱大腿

 

[Shotgunner51]

China ups the ante, to build steel plant in Gwadar as part of CPEC
Devika Bhattacharya | TNN | Dec 20, 2016, 07.13 PM IST

NEW DELHI: China announced its plans to set up a steel factory in Gwadar city as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Zhao Lijian confirmed the news at a conference organised by an Islamabad based think-tank and attended by top diplomats, academicians and mediapersons.

"The steel factory will be three times bigger than the free economic zone being set up in the Gwadar city, and an agreement in this regard between China and Pakistan will be signed soon," said Zhao, as quoted by Pakistan's Nation.​

Read the full article at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...adar-as-part-of-cpec/articleshow/56086715.cms


Edit:

Viewing from China perspective, total installed capacity is estimated at 1.2~1.3 billion tonne/year, production is only 800+ million tonne/year, so while cutting over-capacity at home, it would benefit both CN-Pak to expand steel capacity in CPEC. It better serves the domestic market of Pakistan (infra, industrialization), and may further become a new export base to 3rd country markets.

Pakistan current capacity is about 3 million tonne/year, definitely not enough, my estimate is should be somewhere 12~15 million tonne/year, which is 400~500% of current capacity.

 

[TaiShang]

Chinese steel companies out of the red in Jan.-Nov. 2016
Xinhua, January 4, 2017

China's large and medium-sized steel mills reported profits of 33.15 billion yuan (about 4.77 billion U.S. dollars) in the first eleven months of 2016, according to the latest report of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).

That compared to a loss of 52.91 billion yuan in the same period of 2015, CISA data showed.

Of the 99 steel mills tracked by CISA, the average profit margin stood at 1.28 percent in the said period, said the CISA report.

China's manufacturing sector continues to expand, with the official manufacturing PMI, which surveys larger companies, standing at 51.4 in December, lower than the 51.7 in November but above the boom-bust line of 50 for the fifth straight month.

The steel industry still has a long way to go to increase profit margins, said Li Xinchuang, CISA vice-president, adding that this year the industry will continue to cut excessive and outdated capacity.

***

The profit margin is still low, but the turnaround is amazing. Structural reform seems to be well on track.

@Shotgunner51

 

[Shotgunner51]

Chinese steel companies out of the red in Jan.-Nov. 2016
Xinhua, January 4, 2017

China's large and medium-sized steel mills reported profits of 33.15 billion yuan (about 4.77 billion U.S. dollars) in the first eleven months of 2016, according to the latest report of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).

That compared to a loss of 52.91 billion yuan in the same period of 2015, CISA data showed.

Of the 99 steel mills tracked by CISA, the average profit margin stood at 1.28 percent in the said period, said the CISA report.

China's manufacturing sector continues to expand, with the official manufacturing PMI, which surveys larger companies, standing at 51.4 in December, lower than the 51.7 in November but above the boom-bust line of 50 for the fifth straight month.

The steel industry still has a long way to go to increase profit margins, said Li Xinchuang, CISA vice-president, adding that this year the industry will continue to cut excessive and outdated capacity.

***

The profit margin is still low, but the turnaround is amazing. Structural reform seems to be well on track.

@Shotgunner51

With over-capacity still a financial burden, that's good news!

 

[Shotgunner51]

China will produce more steel in 2017, but they’ll also use most of it themselves
in Commodity News 03/01/2017

Despite efforts to curb steel output to address issues of overcapacity, China will still be producing more of the alloy next year—but the country will also be snapping it up.

According to a recent report by BMI Research, China will produce 825 million metric tons of crude steel next year, a 0.5 percentage point increase from 2016—yet will consume 87 percent of this production.

“Despite Western fears of steel dumping, increased production of Chinese steel will serve domestic demand more rather than flood international markets in 2017,” the house wrote.​

In the last few years, China has moved to shift the economy from heavy reliance on industrial exports to more home-grown consumer demand, with the steel sector frequently cited as ripe for consolidation because of surplus production capacity. At the same time, the pace of growth in China real estate and construction segment relies on keeping the economic engine chugging along.

But as BMI noted, the trend has been for higher production for growing domestic use. This year output increased at a monthly average of 3.6 percent on-year from August to October, amid monthly average export declines of 17.5 percent from a year ago. Chinese steel inventories as a proportion of production were also at a historic low of 8.2 percent in November.

No more dumping?

“This is because continued Chinese fiscal support to the construction sector has buoyed domestic industrial metal demand, especially through public-private partnerships in public infrastructure such as airports, water, rail, power and roads and bridges (that will) continue at least until the end of 2017,” BMI added.​

The domestic demand will narrow the global steel market surplus to 3.2 million tons in 2017 from 10.9 million tons in 2016, BMI forecast. China is both the world’s largest steel producer and consumer.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley concurred, saying in a recent report that overall near-term steel demand is “stable and improving.”

Analysts noted that “infrastructure spending has been increasing, while reduced property inventories in lower-tier cities should result in a rise in new starts. Globally, many regions are showing signs of improved demand, from the economic recoveries in Brazil and India to (U.S. president-elect Donald) Trump’s infrastructure plans for the U.S.,” the investment bank added.

The change in scenery is a turnaround from massive overcapacity in recent years, with China coming under fire for dumping steel into the global markets, depressing prices.

Steel prices are already rallying this year on the improved outlook, with prices in China gaining 60 percent. Prices of its raw material iron ore have doubled on the back of expectations from Trump’s massive infrastructure stimulus plan, and as China continued to tackle over-capacity through production cuts, as well as leaving inefficient factories to idle.

China is also under pressure to curb production due to rising trade cases against its dumping, Morgan Stanley noted. This will in turn benefit the return on equity in the global steel sector sector to 12 percent by 2020, up from 2.9 percent in 2015.

The bank said it is confident China can achieve its 150 million metric ton permanent capacity cut target by 2020, citing cuts of 68 million tons by November, exceeding this year’s target of 45 million tons. The mega merger between Baosteel Group and Wuhan Iron and Steel, and regional consolidation plans, also point to improved fundamentals in the next three to five years, it added.

Read the full article at http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com...17-but-theyll-also-use-most-of-it-themselves/

 

[ahojunk]

This is a breakthrough in high technology. Congrats to China.
Such a small thing but involves high technology.

========
China ready to manufacture homegrown 2.3-mm ballpoint pen tips
By Sun Wenyu (People's Daily Online) 17:09, January 09, 2017

China's first batch of steel wires for making 2.3-mm ballpoint pen tips recently rolled off the production line of Taiyuan Iron & Steel (Group) Co., Ltd. (TISCO), marking a breakthrough in the domestic production of stainless steel balls for ballpoint pens.

China, a country that produces 40 billion pens each year and has more than 3,000 pen manufacturers, has long relied on imported core technologies — both for the stainless steel ball and its casing — from Japan, Germany and Switzerland. In the past, China has spent 120 million RMB ($17.3 million) annually on such materials. Both the machines and raw materials needed to produce ballpoint pens require precise technology, which has challenged the industry for years.

According to Wang Jinhui, a senior engineer at TISCO, such manufacturing techniques were a core secret in the success of foreign manufacturing enterprises. As a result, China had to develop its own original technology without any guide. Fortunately, after five years of trial and error, the development program, which started in 2011, finally achieved success.

The new product is currently being tested at the laboratory of BEIFA, a large stationary production group in China. A number of enterprises have already adopted the new technology from TISCO, and it is expected to replace imported ballpoint pen tips in the next two years.

 

[ahojunk]

This looks like a big deal. More news on this breakthrough.

========
Tech breakthrough on nib to help China's ballpoint industry
2017-01-09 16:00:27 CRIENGLISH.com Web Editor: Xu Yaqi

The production line of ballpoint pen nib [Photo: Shanxi television]


With an annual production of 40 billion ballpoint pens, Chinese ballpoint pen companies could finally end its total dependence on imports of high standard steel for pen nib as breakthrough technology on the part has been proven a success.

Beifa, a leading stationery brand in China, is testing out some pen refills made with "pen nib steel" for the sixth round. The refills have to be capable of writing 800 meters without a break under the same writing angle to pass the test.

Some other stationery brands like TrueColor have also started using the steel in their products.

The steel is likely to replace imported materials completely in two years.

Currently, more than 40 billion ballpoint pens are produced in China annually by more than 3,000 companies and 200,000 workers.

The secret "pen nib steel"

A ballpoint is composed of a ball and a ball seat. The latter is the difficult part to produce, as the seat can only be made out of steel that is easy to cut while resistant to cracking while being processed.

The core technique in producing such high-standard steel has been an industry secret only known to a small number of countries, including Japan and Switzerland.

China has to pay 15 million US dollars every year to import more than 1,000 tonnes of such steel for production.

But the situation is expected to change following China's Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Co. figured out the production technique of " the pen nib steel" four months ago - that is, five years after the country initiated a ballpoint project, with Taigang as the leading participant.

Wang Huimian, a senior engineer with Taigang, said micro-elements are essential in turning raw steel into "pen nib steel" with perfect performance. To work out the right proportion of different elements, Wang said Taigang's research team has conducted a massive number of experiments as they had no examples to follow or refer to.

After repeated failures, the company finally achieved success in a test in September 2016 and later produced the first batch of pen nib steel with a diameter of 2.3 mm.