Posted on 24 Sep 2021
China’s crude steel output curbing had shown greater progress by August with the top steelmaking provinces such as North China’s Hebei and East China’s Shandong all posting over 20% on-year declines, according to the latest detailed data released by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
For August alone, among the 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), 26 posted on-year declines in crude steel output while North China’s Inner Mongolia and Northwest China’s Xinjiang still saw their steel output up on year, and the remaining three are with no steelmaking capacity, Mysteel Global noted from the NBS data.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has been insisting on lower steel output for 2021 since the start of the year, though the restrictive measures have only been implemented around late June except for Tangshan in North China’s Hebei that has started the curbing since March 20, Mysteel Global noted.
Hebei, the country’s top steel producing hub, thus, was the only one among the top 10 steel production bases with a 6.1% on-year decline in its crude steel output over January-August, and meanwhile, most of the local mills in Tangshan city are still having 30% of their steelmaking capacities restricted.
The joining of more local authorities in reining in their local steel output out of the concerns such as on pollution or power consumption slowed down the country’s steel output growth pace with deeper steel output decreases both on year and on month in August.
As for August, among the top 10, Shandong’s steel output fell the most on year by 24.9%, and its stringent curbing measures are expected to last until the end of the year, according to market sources.
Table-1 China’s top 10 steel producing hubs’ steel output in Aug
|
|
Province/Autonomous Region |
Output (mln t) |
YoY change (%) |
|
1 |
Hebei |
18.1 |
-21.9 |
|
2 |
Jiangsu |
9.72 |
-8.6 |
|
3 |
Liaoning |
6.3 |
-7 |
|
4 |
Shanxi |
5.42 |
-5.5 |
|
5 |
Shandong |
5.38 |
-24.9 |
|
6 |
Inner Mongolia |
2.97 |
6.9 |
|
7 |
Anhui |
2.8 |
-11.7 |
|
8 |
Guangdong |
2.79 |
-4.6 |
|
9 |
Guangxi |
2.77 |
-10.9 |
|
10 |
Hubei |
2.56 |
-17.2 |
|
... |
... |
... |
... |
|
Total |
|
83.24 |
13.2 |
Source:NBS
Table-2 China’s top 10 steel producing hubs’ steel output over Jan-Aug
|
|
Province/Autonomous Region |
Output (mln t) |
YoY change (%) |
|
1 |
Hebei |
157.81 |
-6.1 |
|
2 |
Jiangsu |
83.45 |
5.7 |
|
3 |
Shandong |
56.46 |
6.6 |
|
4 |
Liaoning |
53.25 |
6 |
|
5 |
Shanxi |
46.49 |
8.9 |
|
6 |
Guangxi |
25.73 |
18.7 |
|
7 |
Hubei |
25.72 |
17 |
|
8 |
Anhui |
25.56 |
5.8 |
|
9 |
Guangdong |
25.53 |
20.4 |
|
10 |
Henan |
24.43 |
7.2 |
|
... |
... |
... |
... |
|
Total |
|
733.02 |
5.3 |
Source: NBS
However, to realize lower steel output on year for 2021, control will need to be intensified for the rest of the year, as by August, the country’s crude steel output was still around 37 million tonnes higher on year, Chinese market sources commented, predicting a steeper on-year decline in September in some of the major steel producing hubs with their ongoing measures.
“For those leading steel producing provinces such as Jiangsu that have yet made satisfying progress, they will definitely need to step up the efforts,” a Shanghai-based steel analyst stated.
Jiangsu in East China has launched energy consumption reviews on local industrial plants especially those power-intensive ones such as steelmakers since September 8, and as of September 16, 20 of the local 28 steel producers have been deepening output cuts or even suspending production, as reported.
So far in September, East China’s Jiangxi, Southwest China’s Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, and South China’s Guangdong are the few that have stepped up their efforts in lower local steel output, according to Mysteel’s tracking.
Source:Mysteel Global
