China’s Biggest Steel Companies

Due to China’s property crisis and declining demand, many had anticipated that its steel output would decline, yet instead reached new records highs.

Baowu Group is the world’s largest iron and steel producer. Through the acquisition of Hebei Iron & Steel and majority stake in Xinyu Steel, the group is working toward its target of producing 200 million metric tons of crude steel by 2025.

1. Baowu Group

China Baowu Steel Group () is a state-owned iron and steel company located in Shanghai that produces strip steels, plates, hot rolled steels, cold rolled steels, wires, as well as new materials, intelligent services, industrial finance services. Their 2022 Nature Benchmark performance falls below industry averages but they do boast strong records of sustainability and transparency.

This company boasts an annual capacity of over 125 million tonnes and dominates China’s steel market with an extensive and competitive product portfolio and strong domestic market presence. They have expanded through mergers with regional steelmakers over time, as well as taking over smaller mills that face rising environmental protection costs or reduced market shares as the industry faces economic headwinds.

Baowu Steel Group is one of the industry’s leaders in decarbonisation, setting ambitious targets of carbon reductions and carbon neutrality by 2035 and 2050 respectively. They utilize innovative technologies, including low-carbon blast furnace and converter routes, which reduce energy consumption. Furthermore, the company boasts strong technology development capabilities as well as being an early player in digitizing steel trading (completing its first blockchain trade settlement for iron ore with BHP in June 2020 via EFFITRADE platform) while having sufficient liquidity cushion to sustain low leverage levels which Fitch views as an essential rating driver for any rating driver rating driver.

2. Hebei Iron and Steel

Hebei Iron and Steel (HBIS) Group is China’s top iron and steel producer, producing 68 million tonnes of crude steel last year. On track to meet its 2020 capacity-cutting targets for the 13th Five-Year Plan period, as well as taking steps to decrease pollution by relocating production away from Beijing smog belts, HBIS is set for further success in terms of efficiency and cutting overcapacity by 2020.

The Company operates an extra large steel complex encompassing mining & concentrating, iron & steel making, steel rolling and galvanization processes. It offers medium plates, hot-rolled strips, cold-rolled strips, twisted ribbed bars and galvanized plates among its many products, in addition to providing steel processing services and selling its products domestically and overseas.

Establish in 1935, this enterprise ranks among China’s 46 steel enterprises and one of 512 state key enterprises. Comprised of national grade one capacities in steel melting, continuous casting, rolling, advanced technologies, equipment and management. Products offered here are used for construction, manufacturing and agriculture applications.

Hebei Iron and Steel recently announced an agreement to establish an integrated steel plant in the Philippines, with an anticipated annual capacity of 8 Million Metric Tons located on Mindanao Island and expected completion within 3 – 5 Years – a major step for Hebei in diversifying its business activities. This achievement marks a key milestone for Hebei as it shows its ongoing efforts at diversification.

3. Xinyu Iron and Steel

This company manufactures and sells steel products. Their main offerings are middle plate steel, wire products, deformed steel bar/round bar steel products and metal rolled goods such as stainless steel/electrical steel products. Additionally, the company provides iron ore mining and processing services and distributes its products both domestically and overseas markets.

Xinyu Iron and Steel is based in Jiangxi, China and strives to foster long-term, profitable businesses for its customers, suppliers, employees and shareholders. Their core values are Integrity, Innovation, Customer Satisfaction and Continuous Improvement. Xinyu Iron and Steel has an integrated production system comprised of one EAF plant with annual liquid steelmaking capacity of 1.5 million tonnes; an advanced three-strand continuous billet caster, two four rack six strand continuous casters as well as one hot rolling mill and cold rolling mill along with one steel wire series plant.

Market segmentation involves categorizing consumers based on their traits, buying patterns and socio economic status to create targeted marketing campaigns tailored specifically towards specific groups of potential consumers. Market segmentation can help companies better meet the needs of a particular customer group more efficiently; for instance Xinyu Iron and Steel uses psychographic segmentation to divide its potential customers into subgroups such as innovators, achievers, believers, experiencers and survivors so as to better meet those customers.

4. Jiangsu Shagang Group

Jiangsu Shagang Group specializes in the research, development, smelting, processing and distribution of ferrous metal products. Their main offerings are spring steels, pipe base steels and high-quality steels that have widespread applications across infrastructure projects, manufacturing processes, high-end equipment production lines and consumption processes – production bases are located in Zhangjiagang City of Jiangsu Province.

Jiangsu Shagang has made significant strides to create an harmonious and prosperous Jiangsu as well as creating a powerful steel nation in recent years. Their total annual output of wire rod and ribbed steel bars ranks first in China; their product quality has won widespread acclaim from customers and the market alike, and received certifications such as CARES; high-speed wire rod was honored with national superior product award status; while hot-rolled steel strip coil products from Jiangsu have even obtained CE certificates from European Union!

Jiangsu Shagang Group has embarked on its digital transformation with the vision of becoming “Century Shagang”. As one of China’s largest iron and steel enterprises, it serves as an exemplar for others looking to digitize. Partnering with Kingdee to implement digital features through Cosmic PaaS Platform’s comprehensive platform+ SaaS solution deployment – as part of which it plans on improving production process efficiency while setting benchmarks for digitalization throughout its industry and making full use of available resources.

5. Shandong Iron and Steel

Shandong Iron and Steel Co Ltd specializes in producing and distributing iron and steel products, such as sheet metal, wire rods, cold-formed and hot-rolled steel sheets and billets, as well as steel billets pig irons iron ore and coking products to both domestic and overseas markets. Customers of this Company include hotels and restaurants among others.

Jiangsu Yonggang Group Co Ltd (or simply “Yonggang for short”) is an integrated iron and steel enterprise located in Anshan, Liaoning Province and situated between the Qianshan Mountains to the east and Liaohe Plain to the west. Recognized amongst the world’s top 500 enterprises for three consecutive years, its comprehensive competitiveness rating has maintained an A+ level rating for three years running.

Established in 1958, this Company manufactures 8 million tons of steel annually. Their product lineup encompasses carbon and low-alloy series steel products such as welded pipes, plates, hot rolled coils, cold rolled strips, wire rods and forged bars. The Company also offers engineering services, metallurgical process research and development, technological consulting services and technological advice. Yonggang Steel Group is dedicated to the transformation and upgrading of its industry, focusing on intelligent manufacturing, green development, management efficiency, scientific innovation, internationalization and internationalization. Furthermore, it boasts cutting-edge metallurgical equipment including China’s first side-blown converter and oxygen decarburization furnace – capabilities which have allowed Yonggang to remain at the forefront of Chinese steel production.

6. Fujian Sanming Steel

Sanming, Fujian is home to a state-owned enterprise dedicated to producing steel products of superior quality using cutting-edge technologies. As part of this process, this steel producer decided on installing an RSB 500++/4 StarDrive design from Friedrich KOCKS for production needs.

The new RSB will serve as the finishing block of a medium bar rolling mill, helping achieve the highest levels of quality and reliability for this company. They have experience using KOCKS 3-roll technology from previous projects and can rely on its precision, efficiency, and dependability for success.

Shougang Iron and Steel Company Ltd (TISCO), founded in 1919, is one of China’s largest and most advanced steel groups. In 2006 alone, they produced 6.26 million tons of steel resulting in sales revenue of $51.8 billion and profits of $6.7 billion; their main products are carbon steel and stainless steel.

Xinyu Steel’s location in ZhangjiagangCity, an industrial development zone of Yangtze River and near sea development zones, affords it an advantageous geographical position with convenient transportation and access. The China state railway from ZhejiangProvince to JiangxiProvince passes directly through it while highways run all around. Furthermore, four major industrial groups with over 20 subsidiaries and affiliates make up this company.