On November 22, at the 2022 China Stainless Steel Industry Annual Conference, Li Hua, President of the Stainless Steel Branch of the China Special Steel Enterprises Association (Stainless Steel Branch), made the 2022 annual work report of China’s stainless steel industry, and discussed the achievements and achievements of my country’s stainless steel industry since this year. Summarizing the experience, researching and analyzing the new situation, new characteristics and new problems faced by the industry development, and putting forward some ideas and measures to promote the high-quality development of the industry.
With increasing difficulties and increasing challenges, there are still a few companies with excellent performance
The report pointed out that since the beginning of this year, the iron and steel industry and the stainless steel industry have experienced more difficulties and challenges. However, the industry has made every effort to cope with the severe and complex business development situation, the industry operation has remained stable, new progress has been achieved in technological innovation and market expansion, and new steps have been taken in high-quality development.
Specifically, the operation of the stainless steel industry presents the following characteristics:
First, the prices of raw materials and fuels are running at a high level.In terms of nickel raw materials, the irrational surge in nickel prices in early March 2022, the rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry, and the Indonesian government’s repeated mentions of restricting the export of nickel products this year have all had a profound impact on the nickel market. In terms of chromium raw materials, in the first half of the year, the market price of ferrochrome experienced a sharp rise and a fall, with a year-on-year increase of 15.4%. Recently, the supply of ferrochrome market has been tight, and the price of ferrochrome has remained stable and relatively strong. In terms of molybdenum, in the first half of this year, the domestic molybdenum supply and demand gap was 16,700 tons, and the price of molybdenum hit a new high in nearly 13 years. The supply and demand in the second half of the year are still tight.
Second, production and apparent consumption declined.From January to September 2022, my country’s stainless steel output was 23.6346 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 5.22%; domestic stainless steel apparent consumption was 20.2908 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 4.97%.
“my country’s domestic stainless steel production will drop by about 5% this year.” The report predicts. The main reasons are as follows: First, the adjustment of my country’s economic structure has made the main areas of stainless steel consumption, such as infrastructure, decoration, elevators, home appliances, fuel vehicles, etc., the growth rate of the industry has declined; second, some countries have adopted measures such as setting up trade barriers to protect domestic Economic development has affected the export of our country’s products.
The third is that the operating performance has declined, and a few companies have performed well.In the first three quarters of this year, the overall operating performance of major domestic stainless steel producers such as Taiyuan Stainless Steel and Fushun Special Steel declined. However, there are also some companies that have bucked the trend and achieved better operating performance. For example, Yongjin Co., Ltd. achieved revenue of about 30.364 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35.03%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was about 350 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 1.972 billion. The operating income of Jiuli Special Materials increased by about 5.91% year-on-year to 4.75 billion yuan, and the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies increased by about 43.31% year-on-year to 877 million yuan. Yongxing Materials achieved a net profit of 4.183 billion to 4.403 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 660% to 700%, mainly due to the increase in volume and price of lithium battery new energy business and the substantial increase in profitability.
Fourth, good results were achieved in product and technological innovation.For example, the scientific and technological achievements of “Development and Application of Key Technology Development and Application of High-quality Stainless Steel Green Manufacturing” developed by Dongfang Special Steel passed the appraisal of the expert group at the beginning of the year and obtained the appraisal certificate of scientific and technological achievements; “Stainless steel process” won the national invention patent and the silver award of the “Invention and Entrepreneurship Award” project at the Ninth International Invention Exhibition; Beigang New Materials established a material court innovation studio, and completed “a method of preparing ferronickel by enriching nickel with laterite nickel ore” “method” results transformation, providing stamina for the development of enterprises; and so on.
Fifth, the product application field continued to expand.Taiyuan Iron and Steel Group has signed a batch order for Ni36 nickel-based alloy and has become the designated supplier of a domestic large aircraft manufacturing enterprise; the world’s first precision strip steel JDA61 for hydrogen energy bipolar plates, which is the core component of hydrogen energy battery stacks. Tsingtuo Group has developed QN series nitrogen alloyed nickel-saving austenitic stainless steel matching welding rods, welding wires, flux-cored welding wires and other series of welding consumables, which have realized engineering applications. JISCO’s high-end tableware and kitchenware Martensitic series stainless steel green design products have passed the audit and have the strength to enter high-end tableware and kitchenware. Baosteel Co., Ltd. launched steel ingots to directly roll 98mm thick, 3000mm wide extra-thick, ultra-wide high-performance S31603 stainless steel plates for pressure vessels, completing the import substitution of similar products.
Sixth, new progress has been achieved in standardization construction.Since the beginning of this year, a number of stainless steel national standards or industry standards have been approved to be issued, and some standards are yet to be approved. For example, the “Technical Standards for Welded Stainless Steel Roof Engineering” edited by China Metallurgical Construction Research Institute and China Southwest Architecture Design and Research Institute was released and implemented in May this year. Quality accidents such as damage play an important role; the “Stainless Steel Precision Foil” drafted by Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Co., Ltd., Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Precision Strip Co., Ltd., Metallurgical Industry Information Standard Research Institute, Guangxi Beigang New Material Co., Ltd. The standard was approved for publication in July and will be implemented from February 1, 2023.
The situation is not optimistic, but “dual carbon” brings application opportunities in five major fields
“In the fourth quarter of 2022 and for a period of time to come, although the role of economic stabilization policies will continue to play a role, domestic demand will continue to be sluggish, investment in infrastructure, real estate and other industries will not be optimistic, and the situation in the steel industry will still be very severe.” The report pointed out that looking forward to the later period, the whole country The industry must work together to overcome difficulties, redouble our efforts, and make every effort to promote the industry to achieve higher-quality development.
First, implement the innovation-driven strategy in depth, and use innovation to drive high-quality development.“The industry still has the status quo of weak original innovation capabilities, insufficient integration of scientific and technological innovation resources, and unbalanced development of demand and supply.” The report stated. In the face of the above problems, the stainless steel industry and enterprises should further increase structural adjustment, optimization and upgrading, lead the transformation and upgrading of enterprises with innovation, and lay a solid foundation for the high-quality development of enterprises in the industry. At the same time, we should also increase investment in digitization and intelligence, accelerate the application of 5G, industrial Internet, artificial intelligence, commercial cryptography, digital twins and other technologies in the industry, build a professional, efficient, and intelligent manufacturing system, and enhance the enterprise’s reputation. efficiency and profitability.
Second, promote green and low-carbon development, and lead the transformation and upgrading of the industry with green innovation.The report pointed out that the steel industry will face serious “carbon economy” challenges in the future, and it is necessary to accelerate the exploration of solutions and paths for the stainless steel industry to achieve “carbon neutrality”. On the one hand, strengthen the application of clean energy, promote energy-saving and low-carbon technologies, create a low-carbon manufacturing chain, and establish a carbon evaluation system for the entire industrial chain; Advantages, speeding up the R&D and application expansion of energy-saving and longevity, green and low-carbon economical stainless steel products will play a more important role in promoting energy conservation and carbon reduction in the whole society.
Third, seize the market opportunities under the background of “double carbon” and continue to expand the application scenarios of stainless steel products.“With the successive implementation of the national ‘double carbon’ policy, stainless steel, as the most low-carbon metal material in the whole life cycle, will be more chosen by the market.” The report believes that industry enterprises should pay close attention to and actively seize This huge market opportunity and space focuses on the following five areas:
One is the field of fine chemicals.my country is building seven world-class petrochemical base projects, and several large-scale petrochemical base projects are continuing to advance. According to the “Petrochemical Industry Planning and Layout Plan” released in 2015 and the market situation analysis in 2022, the number of projects in the fine chemical industry has increased. “The fine chemical industry is undoubtedly an important development direction for the R&D and application promotion of stainless steel products in the future.” The report analysis pointed out.
The second is the field of steel structure construction.“The 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China and the Outline of Long-term Goals in 2035” and “Notice of the State Council on Printing and Distributing the Action Plan for Carbon Peak Before 2030” both clearly propose “promoting steel structure housing”. It is understood that at present, steel structure buildings account for more than 40% of the total construction volume in developed countries, while steel structure buildings account for only 5% to 7% in my country, especially steel structure residential buildings account for only about 1%. There is room for development. huge. “With the opportunity of the country’s vigorous development of prefabricated steel structure housing, the stainless steel industry actively integrates into this development opportunity, strengthens the research and development of new materials and technologies, and develops and produces more new products with high technical content and high added value.” The report stated.
The third is the field of water supply pipe network.Since 2017, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the State Administration for Market Regulation have successively issued documents clearly requiring the use of green materials and stainless steel in urban water supply systems.steelPipe; On January 19 this year, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issued the “Notice on Strengthening the Leakage Control of Public Water Supply Pipeline Networks”, specifying that pipes with a diameter of 80 mm or less are encouraged to use thin-walled stainless steel water pipes; domestic Shenzhen, Foshan The governments of large and medium-sized cities such as Changsha, Zhengzhou, etc. have successively begun to require the use of stainless steel pipes in household water supply systems. The report states: “With the promulgation of relevant policies on ‘application of stainless steel pipes’ and the gradual standardization of the stainless steel pipe industry, a large number of urban residential secondary pipe networks, public buildings, and urban subway line water supply pipe systems have promoted the use of stainless steel pipes, which is not only a transformation of the construction industry. The direction of upgrading is also the direction of optimizing the structure of stainless steel products.”
The fourth is the field of hydrogen energy production, storage and transportation.The utilization of hydrogen energy needs to start with hydrogen production. Since hydrogen rarely exists in the form of simple substances in nature, it needs to be produced through industrial processes, and all hydrogen production equipment, hydrogen energy transmission and storage need to use stainless steel. The statistics listed in the report show that at present, Europe has used 30,000 tons of stainless steel plates and 2,400 tons of nickel alloys in these links. By 2040, the European stainless steel market using new hydrogen energy technologies will grow by 20%. “Looking at the world, the development and application of hydrogen energy will continue to bring great development opportunities for stainless steel and nickel alloys.” The report concluded.
The fifth is the field of construction and decorative materials.The report predicts that in the future, the use of stainless steel green materials in the construction industry will become more and more common. More and more countries and local governments have set minimum service life requirements for building structures. Stainless steel has excellent corrosion resistance and 100% recycling of stainless steel The use of stainless steel roof and wall panels can reduce the energy consumption of buildings and reduce the urban heat island effect.
“The stainless steel industry must deeply grasp the new requirements of the development of the times, actively seek new opportunities, and continuously accumulate new kinetic energy for high-quality development of the industry, so as to promote the stainless steel industry’s steady and long-term progress on the new journey of high-quality development, and better meet the needs of the times, the country, and social development. needed,” the report called for.