Development status of stainless steel industry

During the "12th Five-Year" period, China's stainless steel industry achieved remarkable results.

 

Variety diversity and quality stability have been greatly improved, which provides effective support for the upgrading and development of construction industry, high-end equipment manufacturing, daily hardware industry and so on.

 

However, affected by the slowdown of downstream steel industry growth and the continuous expansion of stainless steel production capacity, the industry is still facing problems such as overcapacity.

 

Development status of stainless steel industry

 

From the analysis of the stainless steel industry, it is known that by the end of 2017, the smelting capacity of crude stainless steel in China was nearly 40 million tons and the output was 25.7737 million tons, but the productivity utilization rate was only 64.43%.

 

In 2017, the apparent consumption of stainless steel reached 1984.68 million tons. According to the consumption structure of stainless steel in 2016, the downstream of stainless steel was mainly manufacturing industry, accounting for 75.43%, and the construction area accounted for 24.57%.

 

Comprehensive supply and demand, stainless steel rough steel production capacity is currently in a state of oversupply, with relatively surplus capacity.

 

At present, the crude steel production capacity has reached 3.05 million tons, and 10 million tons of production capacity will be released one after another. The contradiction of excess capacity has emerged.

 

Continuous expansion of rail transit, such as high-speed railway and subway, as well as the upgrading of shipping, pipeline and other transport facilities, will drive the demand for stainless steel continues to expand.

 

The grand plan of "one belt and one road" has been put into effect. The vigorous development of intelligent manufacturing driven by China's 2025 will support the demand for stainless steel, which will relieve the enormous pressure of overcapacity.

 

From the perspective of supply and demand balance, the situation of oversupply is obvious. According to industry statistics, crude steel output of 34 domestic stainless steel production enterprises in the first quarter of 2018 totaled 6.61 million tons, an increase of 10.08% over last year.

 

At that time, many stainless steel production enterprises in China were worried about their profits, but in order to maintain the normal operation of the enterprises, they were still continuing to produce despite the continuous loss.

 

Take 304 as an example, the cost control of F integrated production enterprises is 13500-13700 yuan/ton, and the production cost of blast furnace production enterprises is higher than 600-1000 yuan/ton. That is to say, with the average price of 304 hot rolling in March ranging from 14000 to 14200 yuan/ton, the general loss of blast furnace production enterprises ranges from 300 to 1000 yuan/ton.

 

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, China's economy will continue to grow steadily, and the demand for energy and electricity will continue to increase. The upgrading of thermal power generating units in China will increase the consumption of stainless steel.

 

Under the background of the increasing pressure of environmental protection in China, the market demand for environmental protection equipment in China is strong and has great potential for development.

 

With the continuous improvement of people's living standards, the output of medicine and food machinery will continue to grow.

 

On the whole, the consumption of stainless steel in machinery industry will still have room for growth in the future.

 

Despite the rapid development of China's stainless steel industry, the terminal products are still mainly concentrated in low and medium-grade fields such as bars, wires and pipes. Some high-quality materials and high-end products need to be imported.