The steel industry accelerates the pace of upgrading


  The iron and steel industry is an important basic industry of the national economy, an important support for building a modern and powerful country, and an important field for realizing green and low-carbon development.

  As the global steel production and consumption center, my country's crude steel output ranks first in the world for 26 consecutive years.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the iron and steel industry has actively adapted to the new situation and new changes, steadily promoted supply-side structural reform, accelerated industrial transformation and upgrading, and better met the needs of national economic development. The industry has a broader prospect for high-quality development.

  power supply side

  Hundreds of steelmaking can also become soft around your fingers.

  In the production workshop of Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Precision Strip Co., Ltd., the 3-ton stainless steel plate is annealed, softened and rolled in multiple passes, and its thickness is reduced from 0.8 mm to 0.015 mm, turning it into a "hand-torn steel" as thin as a cicada's wings. , becoming an indispensable basic material in the high-end and cutting-edge manufacturing fields.

  The price of 1 ton of conventional sheet steel is 20,000 yuan, while the price of 0.015 mm thick stainless steel produced by Taigang Precision Belt Company is as high as 1.5 million yuan/ton.

"Low-end products have been saturated, and there is no way out for price wars. Only by being brave in innovation, developing high-precision stainless steel products, and occupying the commanding heights of the market, can we stand out from the encirclement!" said the person in charge of the company.

  In order to seize the high-end, the Taigang Precision Belt R&D team has spent more than two years in research and development, and has overcome 175 equipment problems, 452 process problems, and experienced more than 700 tests. " mass production.

Since then, a breakthrough with a thickness of only 0.015 mm has been achieved.

  Products and technologies are the foundation of an enterprise's life.

In the past 10 years, the research and development capabilities of materials in the steel industry have been significantly enhanced, and the proportion of high-end product production and application has increased significantly.

The successful independent research and development of a large number of high-quality key products has strongly supported the steel materials used in the high-end equipment manufacturing industry. The R&D and production of performance silicon steel and other products takes the leading position in the world.

  my country's economy has shifted from a high-speed growth stage to a high-quality development stage.

Under the guidance of policies and the pressure of the market, the iron and steel industry pushes forward the structural reform of the supply side, uses both addition and subtraction, strengthens innovative supply and effective supply, eliminates ineffective supply, and resolutely eliminates backwardness.

  Through hard work, in 2018, my country completed the 150 million tons of steel production capacity reduction target during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period ahead of schedule, banned 140 million tons of "strip steel", and cleared a large number of long-standing low-end and backward production capacity.

  Zhang Haideng, deputy director of the Department of Raw Materials Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that through continuous efforts to reduce steel production capacity and promote transformation, the development resilience of the steel industry has been significantly enhanced, the capacity utilization rate has basically returned to a reasonable range, the industrial structure has become more reasonable, and the industrial concentration has been significantly improved .

In 2021, my country's key large and medium-sized steel enterprises will achieve a profit of over 350 billion yuan, reaching the best level in history.

The domestic steel market share exceeds 99%. Among the 22 categories of steel products, 19 categories of steel products have a self-sufficiency rate of 100%, and the supply capacity has been significantly enhanced.

  Accelerate green development

  In the context of implementing the "dual carbon" goal, how can the iron and steel industry, as a major carbon emitter in the manufacturing industry, turn challenges into opportunities?

  "Hydrogen energy utilization is the best way for the steel industry to achieve low-carbon or even zero-carbon emissions, especially the innovation and application of hydrogen metallurgy technology, which will bring a revolutionary change in traditional steel metallurgy technology, freeing steel production from the absolute dependence on fossil energy. Rely on and solve the carbon emission problem from the source." said Yu Yong, chairman of HBIS Group.

  The upgrade from "carbon metallurgy" to "hydrogen metallurgy" is a major change in the iron and steel metallurgy process.

On November 22, 2019, HBIS Group signed a memorandum of understanding with Italian Tenuoen Group to jointly carry out hydrogen metallurgy technology cooperation.

Taking Zhangxuan Technology as the carrying platform, using the world's most advanced hydrogen production and hydrogen reduction technology, the world's first 1.2 million tons of hydrogen metallurgy demonstration project will be promoted.

Compared with the same production scale of the traditional full-process blast furnace ironmaking "carbon metallurgy" industry, the project can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 70%, sulfur dioxide by 50%, and dust by 90%.

  The above-mentioned measures of HBIS are the epitome of the iron and steel industry's active promotion of low-carbon transformation.

The China Iron and Steel Association released the "Double Carbon" Vision and Technology Roadmap for China's Iron and Steel Industry, and established a low-carbon work promotion committee in the iron and steel industry.

Leading companies have released action routes for low-carbon development, and actively promoted the R&D and demonstration of large-scale decarbonization technology routes.

  He Wenbo, executive chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association, said that the steel industry must unswervingly promote ultra-low emission transformation, implement energy conservation and consumption reduction, and promote low-carbon transformation.

  At present, 30 enterprises across the country with a crude steel production capacity of 172 million tons have completed the whole-process ultra-low emission transformation and evaluation and monitoring work, and 22 enterprises have completed part of the transformation.

  With the ultra-low emission transformation in full swing, the air quality in areas where steel production capacity is concentrated has improved significantly.

Taking Hebei, the largest steel province, as an example, the PM_2.5 concentration in 2021 will drop by 62.5% compared with 2013, and the number of heavily polluted days will be reduced by 87%.

  The work of energy saving and consumption reduction in the iron and steel industry is also deepening.

According to statistics, in 2021, the comprehensive energy consumption per ton of steel of key large and medium-sized iron and steel enterprises in the country will reach 549 kg of standard coal, a decrease of about 53 kg of standard coal compared with 2012; In 2018, the emission rates of coke oven gas and blast furnace gas dropped by about 41% and 71% respectively.

  Increase industry concentration

  For a long time, the large number of enterprises and the low degree of industrial concentration have resulted in my country's steel industry having no right to speak in the procurement of raw materials and disorderly competition in the domestic steel market, which has become one of the "pain points" restricting the high-quality development of the industry.

  Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, under the strong guidance of national policies, the merger and reorganization of the iron and steel industry has been steadily advanced, and the regional integration has been continuously accelerated.

  In 2020, China's Baowu Steel produced more than 100 million tons, and the "100 million-ton steel aircraft carrier" made a shocking debut.

Behind this is a series of good dramas in the reorganization and integration of leading iron and steel enterprises.

In 2016, Baosteel Group and Wuhan Iron and Steel Group jointly reorganized and established China Baowu. After that, China Baowu reorganized Anhui Maanshan Iron and Steel and Shanxi Taiyuan Iron and Steel, and became the owner of Chongqing Iron and Steel Group and took over Sinosteel Group.

  In August 2021, Ansteel reorganized Benxi Steel, and Ansteel Group's crude steel production capacity reached 63 million tons, ranking second in China and third in the world.

As a result, the steel industry has formed a new pattern of "Baowu in the south and Ansteel in the north".

  In the first half of this year, in the face of the severe situation in the steel market, Ansteel Group's crude steel output fell faster than the industry average, and its profit fell lower than the industry average, and the company achieved stable development.

  "Anben's restructuring has gone deeper and more solid, and magnified the synergistic efficiency of '1+1>2'." Dai Zhihao, general manager of Anshan Iron and Steel Group, said that Benxi Iron and Steel Group has achieved a substantial increase in operating efficiency, implemented unprecedented major reforms, and upgraded corporate management. There are four new changes in the employee's sense of achievement and happiness.

In the first half of this year, Benxi Iron and Steel achieved a year-on-year increase of 16.2% in net profit, and the asset-liability ratio decreased by 14.24 percentage points compared with that before the restructuring.

  In order to ensure industrial safety, Ansteel Group, as the steel enterprise with the most resource advantages in China, vigorously implements the "dual-core" strategy of steel and mining, and accelerates the "Cornerstone Plan" project.

In the first half of the year, Ansteel Group's iron ore concentrate production increased by 3.17% year-on-year, and the contribution of the mining sector to the Group's benefits has reached more than 50%.

  Flagship enterprises lead, the steel industry accelerates and strengthens.

The proportion of crude steel output of the top 10 domestic steel companies in the country has increased from 35.9% in 2016 to 41.5% in 2021.

At the beginning of this year, three departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the High-quality Development of the Iron and Steel Industry", proposing that by 2025, the development level of industrial agglomeration will be significantly improved, and the concentration of the iron and steel industry will be greatly improved.

  Fan Tiejun, president of the Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute, said that in the long run, the development direction of the steel industry pattern must be to form a number of world-class super-large steel enterprise groups, and to form specialized pilot companies in the fields of stainless steel, special steel, and seamless steel pipes. , and the formation of regional advantageous enterprises through regional restructuring in areas where iron and steel enterprises are concentrated.

Iron and steel enterprises should fully understand this development trend and actively plan for restructuring and integration.

  Zhou Lei