Posted on 21 Jul 2023
China will intensify efforts to realize the high-quality development of steel industry, as the country’s top government planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has recently stated in its “Guiding Catalogue for the Adjustment of Industrial Structure” draft. The draft is currently under public review over July 14-August 14 and will be finalized based on public feedbacks and implemented afterwards, Mysteel Global understands.
The latest draft includes a total of 56 initiatives concerning China's steel industry – 18 fewer than the 2019 version. All items in the new draft, which are classified into three categories including to be promoted, to be restricted, and to be eliminated, are mainly designed to ensure the security of steel industrial chain and to promote the green development of steel industry.
Over the past few years, China's steel industry has been undergoing industrial restructuring by prohibiting new steel capacity, promoting decarbonization in steelmaking, encouraging steel companies' merger and acquisition (M&A), and improving steel capacity relocation practices, Mysteel Global notes.
For example, to add new facilities, Chinese steelmakers need to meet the country's long-standing capacity swap regulations which demand that whenever new iron- or steelmaking capacity is introduced, old facilities of at least the same productive capacity in operation at the time needs to be stopped and eventually scrapped, as reported.
In the first half of this year alone, under the capacity swap plan, some 19 Chinese steel producers have revealed their plans to install new iron- and steelmaking capacity of about 18.48 million tonnes/year and 20.73 million t/y respectively by stopping their annual existing iron- and steelmaking capacity of approximately 26.09 million tonnes and 27.58 million tonnes, according to Mysteel's tracking.
Moreover, the NDRC also noted at the latest monthly press conference held on Tuesday that it will drive the acceleration of M&A activity of key industries including steel and the digital transformation of traditional industries.
Source:Mysteel Global
