China steel pipe in the international market in 2018

As it is well acknowledged, China steel pipe manufacturers are playing a significant role in the international economic development for a long time. In today’s global steel pipe competition, critical sources of competitive advantage are often firm specific. These include such factors as the quality of management and leadership, ability to innovate and commercialize new products, ability to pinpoint and respond to emerging opportunities, and etc. Generally speaking, globalization of market is one of the most fascinating developments of this century, which for one thing, has great influence on economic transactions, processes, institutions, for other thing, has brought certain pressure and challenges to a large number of production enterprises. As part of players in the international market, almost all the domestic steel pipe suppliers are to a certain degree inevitably affected by this “internationalization” of business transactions.

All along, steel pipe plays a very significant role in the social production and life. The iron and steel industry is a basis for heavy engineering, energy and construction. Today, more and more steel pipe enterprises would like to keep up with the pace of development of the times, and go abroad actively marching into an intense competition in the international market. As transactions gain international character, they have a drastic impact on firm performance and industry structure. On the one hand, global linkages may shorten product life cycles, create intense price pressures, displace manufacturing, outdate technology or design, or simply cause sales and profitability declines. On the other hand, global exchange may lead to new growth opportunities, new sources of know-how and production inputs, new product ideas, or partnerships which cause synergy and new sources of competitive advantages.

However, a variety of domestic SMEs often find themselves inevitably confronted by various risks and a couple of potential problems in the international trade market. For instance, there is certain difference in the pipe classification standard between in the domestic market and in the international market. According to the regular standards in the international market, steel pipe is generally divided into the two major categories: round steel pipe and square steel pipe. In contrast, the domestic standards may be more specific at length, which will facilitate customers’ the specific choice for pipes in need. In this regard, it is also very important to grasp the professional knowledge of foreign trade in the international market. In addition, the development of the upstream and downstream industrial chains also has great influence on the whole steel pipe industry. Specifically, the growing cost of raw materials is regarded as one of the main factors to cause high steel pipe price in the market. Furthermore, as to a variety of changes in the market, it is strongly suggested that pipe manufacturers try to make a comprehensive analysis from related industries, and then to make reasonable adjustment and rational planning, in order to succeed in solving various problems in the changeable steel market.

In short, no industry has escaped the impact of globalization. In order to survive and thrive in a sector in constant transition, steelmakers need to transform themselves. Globalization is no longer a matter of choice and steel businesses’ long-term success depends on it. The businesses that ride the next wave of growth will be those that understand the trends and refine their strategies, business models and portfolios according to a truly global mindset. The steel producers must find the right balance between globalization and customization.