The economic performance of the steel industry in 2018 reached a record high

According to the website of the ministry of industry and information technology, in 2018, the steel industry will continue to push forward the supply-side structural reform, constantly optimize the industrial structure, significantly improve the market order for galvanized steel pipe, and the economic benefits of the whole industry will reach a historical high. Through large-scale technical transformation, a steel pipe supplier – Liaoning anshan iron and steel group co., LTD., has built a world-class production line for cold-rolled steel combined units. Crude steel output hit a record high. In 2018, China’s production of pig iron, crude steel and steel (including duplicates) was 771 million tons, 928 million tons and 1.16 billion tons respectively, with year-on-year increases of 3.0 percent, 6.6 percent and 8.5 percent respectively. In 2018, the apparent consumption of crude steel in China reached 870 million tons, up 14.8% year on year, reaching a historical high level, of which the domestic self-sufficiency rate exceeded 98%.

Steel exports continued to decline significantly. In 2018, China exported 69.34 million tons of hot-rolled steel pipe, down 8.1 percent year-on-year. Exports totaled 398.5 billion yuan, up 7.7 percent year-on-year.The average export price was 5,747 yuan per ton, up 17.2 percent year-on-year. In 2018, China imported 13.17 million tons of steel, down 1.0 percent year-on-year. Imports totaled 108.3 billion yuan, up 5.5 percent year-on-year. The average price was 8,225 yuan per ton, up 6.5 percent year-on-year. Steel exports are expected to gradually stabilize in 2019.

Steel prices in 2018 continue the price trend of the second half of 2017, which are generally at a relatively high level, with the composite steel price index at 115.8 points, up 7.6% year-on-year. In the first half of 2018, the price index of China hollow section tube basically stabilized at 110-120 points. The price continued to rise from July, and the steel price began to fall rapidly in November. By the end of December, the steel composite price index dropped to 107.1 points, down 13%. The economic benefits of the industry have reached a historical high. Due to supply-side structural adjustment, environmental supervision and strong market demand, the steel price in 2018 is running at a high level, the price of imported iron ore remains basically stable, and the industry benefits have reached a historical good level. In 2018, the main business income of China’s steel industry reached 7.65 trillion yuan, up 13.8 percent year-on-year. Its profit reached 470.4 billion yuan, up 39.3 percent year-on-year. The main business income of key large and medium-sized steel pipe companies was 4.13 trillion yuan.