Development History of China's Steel Industry

In 1949, the supply of steel was seriously insufficient. In 1950, the self-sufficiency rate of steel was only 50%. Only more than 100 types of Steel Could be smelted and more than 400 specifications of steel could be rolled. In 1978, the self-sufficiency rate of steel increased to 72.7%, and one-third of foreign exchange was used to import steel. In 2006, China achieved a net export of 24.5 million tons of steel (a total of billets equivalent to 34.63 million tons of crude steel), ending the history of 57 consecutive years of net steel imports since 1949. The actual production level of products such as automobile plates, home appliance plates, pipeline steel, shipbuilding plates, bridge plates, electrical steel, stainless steel plates, special steel bars and wires, and steel for aerospace and military industries has reached a relatively high level.

Since the 13th Five-Year Plan, the physical quality of 282 varieties of domestiC Steel has reached the physical level of similar international products, and the physical quality of 20 products has reached the international advanced physical quality level. In 2018, the self-sufficiency rate of steel reached 106.7%, and the domestic market share of domestic steel reached 98.7%. Among the 22 major categories of steel products, 17 categories of steel products have a self-sufficiency rate of more than 100%. 

China's international competitiveness and technical support for high-end steel have been significantly enhanced: since 2009, the export volume of steel with a unit price of more than US$1,000 has exceeded the import volume; since 2010, the export volume of steel with a unit price of more than US$2,000 has exceeded the import volume. In 2018, the crude steel output was 928 million tons, accounting for 51.3% of the world's proportion, and has ranked first in the world for 23 consecutive years. While steel production has increased, the quality of steel varieties has been greatly improved, and the self-sufficiency rate of steel has continued to increase.