During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China’s steel production and consumption will generally maintain a high level around 1 billion tons. However, changes in downstream steel consumption may compel structural adjustments and transformation upgrades in the steel industry, shifting its development from investment-driven expansion to high-end supply.

Steel raw materials are widely utilized across various sectors of the national economy. They serve as essential inputs for the production and manufacturing of industrial products and are directly used in construction, decoration industries, and the manufacturing of daily necessities. Steel is considered the “staple food” of industrial production and a necessity in social life.

Recently, following the issuance of the “14th Five-Year Plan for Development of Raw Materials Industry” jointly by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Natural Resources, the MIIT, National Development and Reform Commission, and Ministry of Ecology and Environment jointly released the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of the Steel Industry” (hereinafter referred to as the “Opinions”). These documents clarify the objectives and pathways for achieving high-quality development in the steel industry, aiming to establish a high-quality development pattern by 2025 characterized by a rational industrial layout, stable resource supply, advanced technology and equipment, prominent quality and branding, high level of intelligence, strong global competitiveness, and green, low-carbon, sustainable development.

China is a major producer of steel. Since the 13th Five-Year Plan period, crude steel production has consistently reached new highs, with production reaching 1.065 billion tons in 2020, accounting for 57% of the world’s crude steel production and maintaining its position as the world’s largest producer of steel for 25 consecutive years. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, what new opportunities and challenges does the steel industry face? How can high-quality development be achieved?

China’s steel industry achieves “5G level” with independently developed tear-resistant steel

In an interview with reporters, Li Xinchuang, Chief Engineer of the Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute and a foreign academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, stated that the steel industry is a crucial foundational industry supporting China’s rapid economic development. It is also a typical technology-intensive and globally competitive industry.

Li Xinchuang mentioned that China’s steel industry has reached “5G level,” characterized by “good products, good scale, good prices, good services, and good brands.” It boasts the largest and most active domestic market demand, the most comprehensive industrial system, the richest talent resources, the latest advanced technology and equipment, and the fastest and most timely customer service, making it the most globally competitive sector among China’s manufacturing industries.

Regarding innovations in new steel materials, significant achievements have been made in China.

For instance, ultra-thin precision stainless steel strips with a thickness less than 0.02 millimeters, known as “tear-resistant steel,” which are crucial basic materials for aerospace, military nuclear power, high-end electronics, and new energy sectors. Previously, only a few countries like Japan could produce these, with widths below 400 millimeters and at high prices, and exports to China’s cutting-edge sectors were restricted.

Through years of collaboration with Taiyuan University of Technology, Yanshan University, and other institutions, Taiyuan Iron and Steel Group (referred to as Taiyuan Steel Group) has successfully developed a series of ultra-thin precision stainless steel strips with a thickness below 0.02 millimeters, described metaphorically as “hand-tear steel.”

In addition to achieving the international milestone of producing tear-resistant steel with a thickness of only 0.02 millimeters and a width of up to 640 millimeters, Taiyuan Steel Group has also made breakthroughs in production technologies. These include advanced techniques such as boundary integral-based flattening calculation methods, coupled roll system deformation, metal plastic forming processes, and comprehensive rolling technologies. These advancements have addressed global challenges in the continuous production of ultra-thin belts weighing over 2 tons, ensuring efficiency and stability. Furthermore, Taiyuan Steel Group has developed over 20 types of specialty products with soft, high hardness, and high elasticity properties.

In terms of steel material innovation and production, Taiyuan Steel Group has established a comprehensive set of key proprietary technology processes, obtaining 44 invention patents and releasing two industry standards. Their wide-ranging ultra-thin precision stainless steel strips hold a domestic market share of 70%, used in projects such as flexible displays and energy storage batteries by high-end manufacturing enterprises like Huawei and Envision Energy, ensuring foundational material support for China’s high-end manufacturing and exporting to countries like the United States and Germany.

In response to downstream industry changes driving structural adjustments and transformation in the steel industry from investment-driven scale expansion towards high-end supply, Li Xinchuang emphasized three main areas: prioritizing domestic production of critical core component steels based on secure and controllable industrial development needs, increasing demands for personalized and customized steel products in the upgrading process of downstream industries, and enhancing joint research and development efforts between upstream and downstream industries to create new growth points.

Accelerating the production of high-end products to provide green steel solutions for downstream users

According to the “Plan,” focused tasks include advancing high-end, rational, green, digital, and secure development goals. Li Xinchuang noted that the “Plan” proposes continuously improving the level of high-end supply, stabilizing the quality, reliability, and applicability of advanced basic materials, achieving mass production and typical applications of some cutting-edge new material varieties, and making breakthroughs in key foundational materials for strategic areas. It also advocates for optimizing industrial structure, maintaining the prohibition on adding new steel production capacity since 2013, and keeping capacity utilization within reasonable ranges. Additionally, it emphasizes key indicators such as “maturity of intelligent manufacturing capabilities,” “CNC rate,” “digitalization,” and “networking,” promoting the steel industry’s upgrade to intelligent manufacturing. Safety concerns are also addressed, focusing on resolving gaps and bottlenecks in the industrial chain, particularly strengthening the construction of resource security systems and enhancing core equipment technological self-control capabilities to fortify safety production lines and improve safety control capabilities.

Li Xinchuang emphasized the need for the steel industry to continuously enhance its innovation capabilities, increase research and development investment, accelerate the research and development and mass production processes of high-end steel materials. He highlighted the importance of collaborative research between academia, research, and application in tackling core technology challenges, filling domestic gaps, and improving critical material assurance capabilities. For steel varieties like high-speed rail axles, wheels, bogie steels, and aircraft landing gear steels, which already possess production capabilities but have limited application, accumulating and analyzing steel service data is recommended to improve product quality and stability. For products with existing production capabilities but insufficient stability, research should focus on fundamental material studies, impurity control, and clean steel smelting to enhance product consistency and effectively supply high-end steel products.

Regarding the “Plan’s” green tasks, Li Xinchuang stated that during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, efforts are needed to develop and promote green and low-carbon products, providing green steel solutions for downstream users to promote the high-quality development of the steel industry.