The Development and Achievements of China's Steel Industry

　　Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, 69 years have passed. During this period, China's steel industry has striven hard from the ruins of war, encountering both successes and setbacks. After learning from the painful lessons of the "Great Leap Forward" and weathering the storm of the "Cultural Revolution," China's steel industry has still achieved remarkable success.

　　Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, 69 years have passed. During this period, China's steel industry has striven hard from the ruins of war, encountering both successes and setbacks. After learning from the painful lessons of the "Great Leap Forward" and weathering the storm of the "Cultural Revolution," China's steel industry has still achieved remarkable success.

 

　　I. The Planned Economy Period (1949-1978)

　　During this stage, the development of China's steel industry experienced a "major transformation," "two golden periods of development," "three waves of capital construction," and "a tortuous path of development."

　　1. A Major Transformation: In the early days of the People's Republic, China's steel industry developed with Soviet assistance, adopting the Soviet model. In 1956, Comrade Mao Zedong published "On the Ten Major Relationships," proposing to proceed from reality, give full play to the initiative of both the central and local levels, and follow a path combining large, medium, and small enterprises. This transformation was of great significance to China's steel industry.

　　2. Two Golden Periods of Development: These were the First Five-Year Plan period (1953-1957) and the period of national economic adjustment (1963-1965). During these periods, China's annual steel production increased by 800,000 tons and 1.85 million tons respectively, indicating rapid development.

　　3. Three Waves of Capital Construction: The first was during the "First Five-Year Plan," implementing the construction of eight major steel projects among the 156 Soviet-aided projects, along with the renovation and expansion of 20 enterprises; the second was the "Three Large, Five Medium, and Eighteen Small" projects planned and started in 1956. "Three Large" refers to the continued construction of Ansteel, Wuhan Iron and Steel, and Baotou Steel; "Five Medium" refers to the expansion and construction of Taiyuan Iron and Steel, Chongqing Iron and Steel, Maanshan Iron and Steel, Shijingshan Iron and Steel, and Xiangtan Iron and Steel; and "Eighteen Small" refers to eighteen small steel plants including Ji'nan Iron and Steel, Linyi Iron and Steel, and Nanjing Iron and Steel. The implementation of these three waves of capital construction laid an important foundation for the future development of China's steel industry.

　　4. A Tortuous Path of Development: This refers to the "Great Leap Forward" of 1958, the "Cultural Revolution" of 1976, and subsequent unrealistic actions such as "leaping forward" and "foreign leaps," which violated the laws of steel industry development and caused heavy losses to China's steel industry.

 

　　II. The Early Stage of Reform and Opening Up (1978-1992)

　　In these 14 years, China's steel industry achieved remarkable results in opening up to the outside world. The steel industry introduced more than 700 advanced technologies from abroad and utilized more than US$6 billion in foreign capital, greatly promoting changes in technological structure and narrowing the gap with the world's advanced level.

　　During this period, the total fixed asset investment in China's steel industry amounted to 146.543 billion yuan, of which 75.972 billion yuan was invested in capital construction (51.8%), and 70.571 billion yuan was invested in renovation and transformation (48.2%). Steel production exceeded 40 million tons in 1983, 50 million tons in 1986, 60 million tons in 1989, and reached 80.93 million tons in 1992.

 

　　III. The Early Stage of the Socialist Market Economy (1993-2000)

　　This period was a stage of deepening intensive expansion of production in China's steel industry. Its prominent features were focusing on "one adaptation" and implementing "two transformations." "One adaptation" refers to adapting to the requirements of the socialist market economy; "two transformations" refer to shifting from focusing on the scale of production to adjusting and optimizing the structure, and from long-term steel product shortages to controlling the total quantity. These two transformations greatly promoted the development of productivity in the steel industry.

　　In these seven years, fixed asset investment in China's steel industry reached 347.606 billion yuan, of which 144.614 billion yuan was invested in capital construction (41.6%), and 202.987 billion yuan was invested in renovation and transformation (58.4%). Steel production increased from 89.54 million tons in 1993 to 128.5 million tons in 2000, making China the world's largest steel producer and consumer.

 

　　IV. The Period of Deepening Reform, Expanding Opening Up, and Rapid Economic Growth (2001 to Present)

　　Since 2001, China's reform and opening up has entered a new historical stage, and the development of the steel industry has undergone a series of new changes.

　　First, during this stage, the scale of China's steel industry expanded rapidly, with steel production continuously surpassing 200 million tons, 300 million tons, and 400 million tons, exceeding 500 million tons in 2008. From 2001 to 2008, the average annual growth rate of steel production reached 20%, and China's share of global steel production increased from 17.8% to 38.2%, significantly enhancing its position in the world steel industry. The import and export pattern of steel products underwent a fundamental reversal, completely ending the history of insufficient steel material supply in China.

　　Second, China's steel industry has made significant progress in the localization and modernization of technological equipment, and the variety and quality of products have been optimized. Modernized new areas of large-scale old enterprises, including Ansteel, Wuhan Iron and Steel, and Baotou Steel, have been successively completed and put into operation, and a number of modern coastal steel bases are under construction.

　　Finally, significant progress has been made in energy conservation and emission reduction. The comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel of major large and medium-sized steel enterprises nationwide has decreased from 876 kg of standard coal to 628 kg of standard coal. This indicates that the comprehensive energy consumption for smelting one ton of steel is currently only 1/4 of that before the reform and opening up. In addition, industrial dust emissions have also decreased significantly, steel quality has improved significantly, and the domestic market share has increased significantly.

　　In recent years, the steel industry has achieved remarkable achievements in technological innovation, and its overall level has significantly improved. The steel industry structure has been continuously optimized, the variety and quality of products have significantly improved, significant strides have been made in energy conservation and environmental protection, and technological innovation achievements have continued to emerge.

　　In terms of product innovation, a large number of high-end steel products have been researched and developed, ensuring the upgrading and development of major steel-using industries in the national economy. Automobile steel sheets developed and produced by Baowu, Ansteel, Shougang, Hegang, Maanshan Iron and Steel, and Benxi Iron and Steel; high-quality grain-oriented silicon steel developed and produced by Baowu and Shougang, the quality of these products has joined the ranks of the world's top tier.

　　In terms of energy conservation and emission reduction, the unit comprehensive energy consumption and unit emissions of major pollutants have decreased significantly. In 2016, the average comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel of China Iron and Steel Association member enterprises decreased to 572 kg of standard coal, the water consumption per ton of steel was 3.52 tons, and the sulfur dioxide emissions per ton of steel were 0.85 kg.

　　In terms of forward-looking technologies, thin-strip casting and rolling and thin-slab semi-headless continuous casting and rolling technologies have received high attention and application from enterprises. In terms of technological patents, by the end of 2016, the number of valid patents held by the Chinese steel industry reached 46,600, with an average annual growth rate of 30%.

　　Overall, the achievements of China's steel industry can be summarized into the following four aspects:

　　1. Steel industry technological innovation has significantly promoted transformation and upgrading. As a pioneer in China's supply-side structural reform, the steel industry has vigorously promoted "reducing excess capacity, reducing inventory, deleveraging, lowering costs, and shoring up weaknesses," using the resolution of excess capacity as a breakthrough point to optimize structure, overcome difficulties, upgrade, improve quality, and increase efficiency. Taking rebar as an example, after the elimination of "地条钢" (inferior quality steel bars), high-quality long steel products dominate the market, and high-strength rebar leads market consumption. Currently, the output of 400 MPa and above high-strength steel bars by steel association member enterprises accounts for more than 95%, exceeding the target of "over 80%" proposed in the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" for steel. The output of high-strength ship plates has increased significantly, accounting for about half of the output of ship plates. High-end products such as electrical steel sheets, cold-rolled coils, and galvanized sheets are gradually replacing imports, and the domestic market share is continuously increasing. By eliminating "地条钢", the steel industry has completely eliminated the problem of "bad money driving out good money" in the steel market for many years, giving play to the advantages of compliant production capacity, and significantly improving users' perception of the quality of steel products.

　　2. The steel industry has made major breakthroughs in technological innovation, and R&D projects have yielded fruitful results. Currently, the steel industry possesses a number of internationally launched products and technologies that have had a significant impact. Among them, the magnetic yoke pole steel sheet and power plant volute steel sheet developed and produced in China have reached world-leading levels; the three series of nuclear power steel, including the nuclear reactor containment shell, key equipment in the nuclear island, and supporting structural components for nuclear power plants, have been applied in the world's first third-generation nuclear power project, CAP1400. Baowu's new ultra-high-strength steel product, QP1180GA, has been launched globally, making it the only steel company in the world that can simultaneously mass-produce first, second, and third-generation advanced high-strength steel. The alliance of high-quality corrosion-resistant steel for oil tankers, led by Ansteel and the Steel Research Institute Group, after 4 years of R&D, not only achieved independent mass production of corrosion-resistant ship plates and passed a 3-year experimental verification of actual ship construction, completely breaking the foreign monopoly, but also innovated the efficient R&D model of "production, education, research, inspection, and application" for ship steel, achieving a major breakthrough. This team should become an excellent innovation demonstration team in the industry. From 2011 to 2016, the steel industry won 7 special prizes and 67 first prizes in the Metallurgical Science and Technology Progress Award. These R&D achievements have largely solved some technical bottlenecks that have restricted the development of the industry, enabling the overall level of the steel industry to reach a new level.

　　3. The steel industry has made major breakthroughs in technological innovation, and R&D projects have yielded fruitful results. Currently, the steel industry possesses a number of internationally launched products and technologies that have had a significant impact. Among them, the magnetic yoke pole steel sheet and power plant volute steel sheet developed and produced in China have reached world-leading levels; the three series of nuclear power steel, including the nuclear reactor containment shell, key equipment in the nuclear island, and supporting structural components for nuclear power plants, have been applied in the world's first third-generation nuclear power project, CAP1400. Baowu's new ultra-high-strength steel product, QP1180GA, has been launched globally, making it the only steel company in the world that can simultaneously mass-produce first, second, and third-generation advanced high-strength steel. The alliance of high-quality corrosion-resistant steel for oil tankers, led by Ansteel and the Steel Research Institute Group, after 4 years of R&D, not only achieved independent mass production of corrosion-resistant ship plates and passed a 3-year experimental verification of actual ship construction, completely breaking the foreign monopoly, but also innovated the efficient R&D model of "production, education, research, inspection, and application" for ship steel, achieving a major breakthrough. This team should become an excellent innovation demonstration team in the industry. From 2011 to 2016, the steel industry won 7 special prizes and 67 first prizes in the Metallurgical Science and Technology Progress Award. These R&D achievements have largely solved some technical bottlenecks that have restricted the development of the industry, enabling the overall level of the steel industry to reach a new level.

　　4. The promotion of technological innovation achievements in the steel industry has accelerated, and the application effects are significant. The steel industry has focused on promoting a large number of advanced technologies in processes, equipment, energy saving, environmental protection, and comprehensive resource utilization, which have been applied in the construction of Baowu Group's Zhanjiang base, Shandong Iron and Steel's Rizhao base, and Shougang Jingtang Phase II. 42 ultra-large-capacity top-charged coke ovens have been built in China, not only improving the level of coke oven technology and equipment in China but also achieving huge economic and social benefits. In the field of environmental protection, the steel industry has focused on promoting technologies such as enclosed stockyards or silos, dust control technology for iron tapping in blast furnaces, upgrading and transformation of coking wastewater treatment, comprehensive deep wastewater treatment technology, and efficient treatment and comprehensive utilization of metallurgical slag.