Analysis of China's Metallurgical Equipment Market Competition

On the morning of May 28th, the key projects identified in the Plan for the Adjustment and Revitalization of the Iron and Steel Industry and the Twelfth Five-Year Plan for the Western Development, and the largest investment in the history of Guangxi's modern industrial projects, the Fangchenggang Iron and Steel Base Project, were A full-scale groundbreaking ceremony was held at the Fangchenggang Industrial Zone in Fangchenggang.

This is in the country’s recent emphasis on “stabilizing growth and expanding domestic demand”. On the same day that the National Development and Reform Commission approved the three steel projects of Qian’an Shougang, Fangchenggang of Guangxi, and Zhanjiang of Guangdong on the same day of May 25, the first major steel project was started. In the industry caused a greater response. This group of steel projects was approved and started construction. What does this mean for the metallurgical equipment manufacturing industry? It is worth paying attention to people in the metallurgical equipment manufacturing industry.

Is it business or excess crisis?

Their company is very concerned about the recent approval of Baosteel Zhanjiang and Wugang Fangchenggang steel projects by the National Development and Reform Commission. When the reporter mentioned that the construction of a large number of large-scale steel projects will bring about the demand for metallurgical equipment and bring more business opportunities to the metallurgical equipment manufacturing industry, the general manager does not seem to be excited or even worried. Shao Xingmao said that at the time of the steel industry boom, these steel projects have not been approved. Now that the steel industry is in a sluggish state and the steel market has continued to be weak and depressed, at this time, the approval of these steel projects or the excess production capacity of steel has become even more serious. Intensified, the contradiction between supply and demand reemerged again. He felt a bit worried about who the steel produced by the steel factory was sold to, and said that he did not understand it well.

However, there are also people in the industry who believe that the construction of Wugang Fangchenggang project is not worried about excess capacity. Whether it is Baosteel or Wuhan Iron and Steel, before the start of these projects have eliminated 10 million tons of production capacity, and the positioning of these two projects are relatively high-end, both to "build quality steel" mainly to build a fine steel base. Therefore, in product design, it will certainly not be the same as the current excess product.

The metallurgical equipment market is fiercely competitive. Currently, the metallurgical equipment market is highly competitive, and it is almost in the “shopping” position. Because of the excess capacity of steel, the profits of steel mills have shrunk dramatically, and the industry has suffered losses that have spread to the metallurgical equipment manufacturing industry. Now that metallurgical equipment is provided for steel mills, it is not about cost-effectiveness. It is to see who has the lowest price for the equipment and the low price can win the bid. However, the equipment provided by a metallurgical equipment manufacturing company cannot get back the goods in time, even if the manufacturer pays, it is an acceptance bill, and there is no cash settlement. This is all because of excess steel production capacity, the benefits of steel mills shrink, leading to increasingly fierce competition in the metallurgical equipment manufacturing market. He admitted that this year is the most difficult year for companies in the past 20 years. This is not because the sales of metallurgical equipment is not good, but because the price is too low, the payment is difficult and the profit is slim.

However, Shao Xingmao frankly stated that with the construction of a number of steel projects, the demand for metallurgical equipment will increase. In the first half of the year, Shao Xingmao’s company successively provided a batch of continuous casting machines for steel mills in Xinjiang, Chongqing, Henan, Yunnan and Hebei. In the first half of the year, there were many orders for metallurgical equipment and the production tasks were full.

The construction of iron and steel projects is really concerned. Since the beginning of this year, there have been a number of new steel projects in China. On April 26, a foundation-laying ceremony was held for the construction of a 3 million-ton steel project in Altay Jinyi Iron and Steel, Xinjiang. Since the beginning of this year, a number of steel projects have been intensively started in Xinjiang, and the capacity of its new construction projects has exceeded 10 million tons, making Xinjiang's overall steel production capacity exceed 50 million tons.

This year, Heilongjiang continues to expand and strengthen the steel industry, and two key steel projects will begin construction. Among them, the second phase of the optimization and upgrading of Xilin Steel's process structure includes a 1,260 cubic meter blast furnace, a 120-ton converter, and an annual output of 1 million tons of high-speed wire rod production lines. Hegang plans to build an annual output of 5 million tons of iron and steel cogeneration projects, initially identified in two phases, a total investment of 5.4 billion yuan in the first phase, the construction of two blast furnaces, an annual output of 2 million tons of steel, the total steel production after the completion of the second phase 5 million tons.

At the end of April, the Hezhang Hot-rolled Rolling Mill, with a total investment of 6 billion yuan and an annual output of 2.5 million tons, held a groundbreaking ceremony in Hefei Township, Hejie County, Guizhou Province. According to the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan for Iron and Steel Industry Development in Guizhou Province”, during the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, the province will form a demonstration base for water and steel, Panxian New Crafts and New Materials Circular Economy, and Guigang New Special Materials Circular Economy Industry. The three major iron and steel production bases based at the base ensure that the steel production reaches 15 million tons/year or more, and strive to reach 20 million tons/year.

On April 9th, the start-up ceremony of “Concentrated Construction of 20 Key Projects and High-precision Cold-rolled Sheet Project” in Xihu District, Benxi City was held. Among them, the high-precision cold-rolled sheet project of Benxi Jinyong New Material Technology Co., Ltd. has a total investment of 1 billion yuan. The main products are cold-rolled coils, aluminum coils, and tin-plated substrates. The project is scheduled to be completed and put into operation in May of the first phase of next year. After it is put into production, it can annually produce 500,000 tons of high-precision cold-rolled sheet. Prior to this, Bengang Steel Cold Rolled High Strength Steel Renovation Project was laid on the foundation of March 26, with an investment of over 6 billion yuan and an annual production of 2.2 million tons. The product is targeted at high-end automobiles, household appliances, high-strength steels and ultra high-strength steels.

On March 31st, the annual output of 500,000 tons of stainless steel composite panels and deep-processing projects in the new material high-tech industrial park in Wugang City was laid in the industrial agglomeration area of ​​Wugang City.

The Minmetals mid-plate H-beam project, with a total investment of 30 billion yuan, is in full swing, with an annual output of 4.5 million tons of hot-rolled steel.

Luliang City's annual output of steel reaches 7 million tons. Recently, the installation of 1780 m3 blast furnace top equipment in Zhongyang, Shanxi Province, has been fully launched and is expected to be put into production in August 2012.

Qian'an will form an annual output of 2.8 million tons of tinplate production capacity. At present, many key steel projects in Qian'an are progressing smoothly. Among them, 600,000 tons of electrical steel and tin plate project of Qian'an Svenkode Sheet Technology Co., Ltd. was started in March 2011 with a total investment of 1.5 billion yuan. It is scheduled to be completed and put into operation in December 2013.

Jiangxi will build an iron and steel base along the Yangtze River and gradually produce 10 million tons of production capacity during the “12th Five-Year Plan” period.