From December 14th to 17th, 2023, the "2024 Great Changes, New Momentum China Steel Market Outlook and 'My Steel' Annual Meeting" was held in Shanghai.
At the theme conference on the 16th, He Wenbo, Secretary of the Party Committee and Executive Chairman of China Iron and Steel Association, delivered a keynote speech entitled "Based on the Present, Facing the Future, and Unswervingly Taking the Road of High-quality Development".
He Wenbo, Secretary of the Party Committee and Executive Chairman of China Iron and Steel Association
He Wenbo said that after more than 40 years of rapid development of reform and opening up, China's iron and steel industry has significantly improved its world influence, significantly enhanced its industrial independence, and made more and more contributions to the development of the world's steel industry, and the goal of becoming a steel power is being achieved.
While China's steel industry has achieved its own development, it has also fully supported the rapid development of downstream industries and gone global. According to the estimation of experts of the Steel Association, in recent years, the number of mechanical and electrical products exported by China every year contains more than 100 million tons of steel, and the indirect export volume of steel in China in 2022 will be 11.3 billion tons.
In addition, with the rapid increase in the coverage and penetration rate of green and intelligent in the whole industry, China's steel industry is becoming more and more new and is entering a new stage of development. As a capital-intensive and technology-intensive super-large-scale process-oriented industry, China Iron and Steel provides the best application scenarios and digital empowerment for the ever-changing new generation of information technology, which has completely subverted people's imagination of traditional industries. Whether it is the development and application of environmental technology and digital technology, China's steel today is at the forefront of the world.
Subsequently, He Wenbo introduced the development situation of China's iron and steel industry and put forward his opinions
First, the steel consumption structure has been continuously optimized, the proportion of steel consumption in the manufacturing industry has continued to increase, and China's steel market has shown strong resilience. Although the demand for steel for real estate has declined, the demand for steel in industries such as automobiles, shipbuilding, and home appliances has increased, making up for the lack of total volume.
The total consumption of steel has reached its peak, and the decline in total volume is an inevitable trend. From speed to quality, from total volume to variety, the shift in focus is underway. The transformation of economic and social consumption structure, the progress of steel technology, and material substitution all affect China's steel consumption demand.
3. Efficient growth is an inevitable requirement for high-quality development. It is necessary to consider accelerating the introduction of carbon constraints and re-evaluating the effectiveness of "production capacity" governance. It is necessary to unswervingly control production capacity, learn market-oriented methods, and establish new mechanisms. It is not only necessary for technological innovation and management innovation, but also for institutional innovation and governance innovation.
Fourth, no matter how many clever ways there are to reduce carbon emissions in steel, vigorously promoting the recycling of recycled steel is always the first choice. In 2022, China already has 12 billion tons of steel reserves, and the consumption of scrap steel exceeds 200 million tons.
The excellent properties of steel materials (cost-effective and recyclable) are far from being fully exploited, and there is no room for "material upgrading and material substitution". In 2022, China's steel structure processing and production volume will exceed 100 million tons, compared with only 50 million tons in 2015. In the past seven years, the production volume of steel structure processing has doubled, and it is planned that the application of steel structure will reach 1400 million tons, which will reach 200 million tons in 2035.
Finally, He Wenbo said that the steel industry should do the following key work. Focus on a fundamental task:Enhance the basic capacity of the industry and the level of the industrial chain. Adhere to two major development themes:Green development and intelligent manufacturing. Focus on solving the three major industry pain points:Control capacity expansion, promote industrial concentration, and ensure resource security. Continue to promote the internationalization of China's steel industry.
Disclaimer: The above content is the guest's personal academic opinion, which has not been reviewed by the guest himself, and does not represent the views and positions of this website.