The operation of the steel industry in 2019

In 2019, the steel industry will continue to deepen supply-side structural reform of glass curtain wall systems, consolidate the achievements made in cutting overcapacity, speed up structural adjustment, transformation and upgrading, and promote high-quality development of the whole industry with overall stable performance.

First, Crude steel output has reached a new high.
In 2019, China’s output of pig iron, crude steel and steel products reached 809 million tons, 996 million tons and 1.205 billion tons respectively, up 5.3%, 8.3% and 9.8% year-on-year respectively, and the output of crude steel hit a new record high. In 2019, the market demand of the steel industry was relatively good, and the downstream industries such as infrastructure construction and real estate were in stable operation. The apparent domestic consumption of plastic greenhouse was about 940 million tons, an increase of 8% year-on-year.
Second, steel imports and exports both decline.
From January to December 2019, China exported 64.293 million tons of steel, down 7.3% year-on-year, according to the general administration of customs. The cumulative export value was $53.76 billion, down 11.3% year on year. A total of 12.304,000 tons of imported round steel pipe, down 6.5% year on year; the cumulative import value was $14.11 billion, down 14.1% year on year.

Steel prices fluctuate in a narrow range.
In 2019, steel prices were generally stable with a narrow range of fluctuations.
At the beginning of May, it reached 113.1 points, while at the end of October, the shock dropped to 104.3 points lower this year. The annual average of China’s steel price index was 107.98 points, down 6.77 points or 5.9 percent year on year.
The price of imported iron ore has risen sharply.
According to the data of the general administration of customs, China imported 1.07 billion tons of iron ore in 2019, an increase of 0.5% year on year. The import amount was 101.46 billion US dollars, an increase of 26.64 billion US dollars or 33.6% year on year. The annual average price was 94.8 US dollars/ton, an increase of 34.3% year on year. Compared with last year, while the total import volume remained stable, the import price rose sharply, which had a greater impact on the profits of the aluminium curtain wall industry. Economic benefits have declined significantly. As the growth of steel output accelerated, steel prices fluctuated in a narrow range; in 2019, China iron and steel association member steel enterprises realized sales revenue of 4.27 trillion yuan, up 10.1% year on year.