Posted on 01 Sep 2025
The corporate board of Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. (Baosteel), the listed arm of China Baowu Steel Group, has formally approved a proposal to establish a production base for “premium seamless pipes” in Ma’anshan city in East China’s Anhui province, according to the company’s latest release on August 27.
The vehicle for the project will be Baosteel's wholly owned subsidiary Baosteel Pipe Technology Co, a 75-25% joint venture established in May 2023 between Baosteel and Baotou Iron & Steel based in Inner Mongolia. At the time, the two had said they were "aiming to create a professional pilot enterprise in the seamless pipe field," Mysteel Global notes.
According to Baosteel's announcement, the company will provide cash to Baosteel Pipe Technology Co which in turn will establish Baosteel Steel Pipe (Ma'anshan) Technology Co., Ltd. (provisional name) as a wholly owned subsidiary to undertake Phase I of the premium seamless steel pipe base project. Total investment is expected to amount to Yuan 4.96 billion ($695 million).
However, the announcement gave no production capacity of the production base, no timeline for construction and commissioning, or the kinds of seamless products to be produced.
Ma'anshan city is also home to Ma'anshan Iron & Steel (Ma Steel) which, in mid-2019 came under the China Baowu Group umbrella. In April this year, Baosteel bought a 49% share in Ma Steel, saying the purchase aligns with Baosteel's strategic vision of "becoming the most competitive steel enterprise globally".
Ma Steel is known for producing special steel, wheel axles, long products, and sheets and plates but not pipes and tubes, Mysteel Global notes.
Coincidently, earlier this month, Sinosteel Equipment & Engineering Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinosteel International which since December 2022 has also been under China Baowu Steel Group, signed a contract with ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Al-Jubail (AMTPJ) for the construction of a seamless pipe heat treatment and finishing line project.
AMTPJ is a joint venture between ArcelorMittal Group and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) - Saudi Arabia's primary sovereign wealth fund - with PIF as the majority shareholder. Located in Jubail, a major industrial city in eastern Saudi Arabia, AMTPJ is a leading producer of seamless pipes in the Middle East, primarily serving the country's oil and gas sector as well as national infrastructure projects.
According to the contract, Sinosteel Equipment will act as the prime contractor for the project, responsible for the construction of a 200,000-tonne/year seamless pipe heat treatment line and a 150,000-t/y finishing line. "The project will produce high-end seamless steel pipe products to serve oil and gas, shipbuilding, marine engineering, and other sectors in the Middle East and North Africa", Baowu said in a statement.
In the first half of this year, Baosteel produced 940,000 tonnes of pipe products, accounting for 3.7% of its total output, according to another announcement released on August 27.
Source:Mysteel Global
