Posted on 24 Jan 2022
In 2021, North China's Hebei province maintained its position as the country's top steel-producing province, with its annual crude steel output reaching nearly 225 million tonnes, despite an on-year decline of 9.9%, according to new data from the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The dip marked the first on-year fall in Hebei's crude steel output since 2017, Mysteel Global noted.
Hebei accounted for 21.8% of China's total crude steel production of 1.03 billion tonnes last year, while its contribution to the country's total fell by 1.9 percentage points on year in 2021, the NBS data shows.
For December, Hebei saw its crude steel output inch up by 0.8% on year - or by a more impressive 41.7% on month - because many mills there resumed production after deciding they were almost certain to meet Beijing's call for lower crude steel output for the year.
However, the pace at which the Hebei mills resumed production was still slower than expected, chiefly due to the frequent emergency curbs on mills to improve air quality in Tangshan, a steelmaking hub in Hebei, Mysteel Global noted.
The central government required that crude steel production be reduced last year to better balance domestic steel supply and demand, and to contribute to the long-term goals of reaching carbon peak and carbon neutrality by 2030 and 2060 respectively, as reported.
After Hebei, East China's Jiangsu and Shandong provinces remained as the country's second- and third-largest steelmaking bases among the 31 Chinese provinces and autonomous regions in 2021, with their crude steel output totaling 119.2 million tonnes and 76.5 million tonnes respectively. Yet they also recorded on-year declines of 1.5% and 4.3%, the NBS data showed.
As for 2022, additional measures to restrict production could still be imposed on domestic mills as Beijing has repeatedly stressed that it will continue curbing steel capacity and production in the long run, sources said.
China's top 10 steelmaking provinces and autonomous regions in 2021
Unit: million tonnes
|
|
2021 |
2020 |
YoY (%) |
|
Hebei |
225.0 |
249.8 |
-9.9 |
|
Jiangsu |
119.2 |
121.1 |
-1.5 |
|
Shandong |
76.5 |
79.9 |
-4.3 |
|
Liaoning |
75.0 |
76.1 |
-1.4 |
|
Shanxi |
67.4 |
66.4 |
1.6 |
|
Guangxi |
36.6 |
22.8 |
6.0 |
|
Hubei |
36.6 |
35.6 |
2.8 |
|
Anhui |
36.5 |
37.0 |
-1.4 |
|
Henan |
33.2 |
35.3 |
-6.1 |
|
Guangdong |
31.8 |
33.8 |
-6.0 |
|
National total |
1,032.8 |
1,064.8 |
-3.0 |
Source: Mysteel, based on NBS statistics
Source:Mysteel Global
