2025-07-08
China's steel industry sees improved performance in the first five months
Reporters learned from the China Iron and Steel Industry Association: From January to May, the national crude steel output was 432 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 1.7%. In terms of profit, the steel industry has seen positive changes. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that from January to May, China's ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry achieved a total profit of 31.69 billion yuan, exceeding the 29.19 billion yuan for the whole year of 2024.
Zhang Longqiang, director of the Metallurgical Industry Information Standard Research Institute, said that the operation of China's steel industry in the first five months of this year was stable, and its economic efficiency increased significantly, thanks to the improvement of the supply and demand situation.
On the supply side, since 2025, the steel industry has increased its self-discipline in production control, and China's crude steel output has shown a downward trend year-on-year. The supply-demand contradiction has eased, and inventory pressure has been temporarily relieved, providing some support for steel prices and improving the overall operating environment of the industry. Jiang Wei, secretary-general of the China Iron and Steel Industry Association, believes that with the industry's profitability, the industry's crude steel output has been reduced by 1.7%, which is the guarantee for the industry's profitability from January to May.
On the demand side, on the one hand, the "two new" policies have continuously stimulated steel consumption. In the first five months, China's automobile production and sales both increased by more than 10% year-on-year, and the retail sales of household appliances and audio-visual equipment increased by 30.2%. On the other hand, the growth of exports is significant. In the first five months, China's cumulative steel exports reached 48.469 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 8.5%, providing support for steel demand.
In addition, on the cost side, the prices of major raw materials such as iron ore, coking coal, and coke have fallen significantly compared with the high levels of last year, effectively reducing the production costs of steel mills and creating room for steel mills to profit. Data from the China Iron and Steel Association shows that in the first quarter, the procurement costs of imported powdered ore, coking coal, and metallurgical coke by key steel enterprises all decreased significantly. "The price reduction of a considerable portion of raw materials is far greater than the price reduction of steel." Jiang Wei said.
Jiang Wei said that the companies' self-discipline in production control is good, ensuring that company inventories remain at a low level. This, on the one hand, reduces the direct demand for raw materials and lowers prices; on the other hand, it keeps the market supply of steel basically balanced, and steel prices remain relatively stable, further ensuring the industry's profitability. In the second half of the year, enterprises should continue to improve self-discipline in production control and inventory reduction to avoid "involution" competition. (People's Daily Wang Yunshan)
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