The steel industry still plays an important role in the world economy

Release time：Jun 14, 2019 From：admin

The steel industry continues to play a vital role in the modern world, according to a report released by Oxford Economics at the end of May, "The Impact of Steel in the Global Economy." In 2017, more than 6 million people in the world engaged in related work in the steel industry chain. The contribution of the steel industry to the global economy was equivalent to 3.8% of the total global GDP of the year, and it is expected to provide support for 96 million jobs in related industries. The global steel industry's per capita production efficiency exceeds $80,000 per year, which is three times the average for all sectors of the global economy. The report also pointed out that for every $1 increase in the value of the steel industry, other sectors of the global economy would realize an additional “value added” of $2.50 for transactions in raw materials, commodities, energy and services.

The World Steel Association also pointed out in the latest issue of World Steel Statistics 2019 released on June 3 that steel has been the material basis for social development and progress in the past 100 years. In the next 100 years, steel will continue to play a role in social development. The role of the foundation to meet the challenges of social development.

India's steel consumption potential is huge

According to World Steel Statistics 2019 released by the World Steel Association, global crude steel production continued to record a record high of 1.808 billion tons in 2018, an increase of 4.5% over 2017, the fourth consecutive year of growth since 2015. .

In 2018, the global apparent consumption of steel reached 1.712 billion tons. In terms of countries and regions, China accounted for 48.8% of the total, and the apparent consumption of steel in India and Japan accounted for 5.6% and 3.8% respectively, the EU accounted for 9.9%, and the North American Free Trade Zone accounted for 8.3%. The proportion of joints reached 3.3%.

In 2018, the global per capita consumption reached 224.5 kg, and the global per capita crude steel consumption showed an overall upward trend. The per capita consumption in 2012 was 202.9 kg.

In terms of countries, in 2018, South Korea's per capita steel consumption reached 1047.2 kilograms, the highest level in the world; China's per capita steel consumption reached 590.1 kilograms, Japan reached 514.1 kilograms, Germany was 495.5 kilograms, Italy was 445.0 kilograms, and the United States was 306.5 kilograms. Russia is 285.9 kg and France is 215.9 kg.

It is worth pointing out that as the world's second largest steel producer, India's per capita steel consumption in 2018 is only 70.9 kg, still far below the world average. This is mainly related to the large population base of India, and it also reflects the huge potential of Indian steel consumption. According to the national steel development plan formulated by the Indian government in 2017, India's steel production capacity will reach 300 million tons in 2030. The increase in Indian steel consumption is mainly due to the large amount of infrastructure construction demand generated by the urbanization process. The World Steel Association said in its short-term forecast report that the Indian economy has recovered from the double impact of the “waste order” and “GST” implementation, coupled with investment environment improvement and infrastructure construction. With double support, Indian steel demand is expected to return to a higher growth rate.

In 2018, the top 10 global steel producers are still China, India, Japan, the United States, South Korea, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Brazil, and Italy. Compared with 2017, the crude steel output rankings of individual countries have changed. In India, Japan surpassed Japan to become the world's second largest steel producer, and South Korea surpassed Russia to become the world's fifth largest steel producer.

From the top 50 steel companies in the world, 28 companies in China, the largest steel producer, were selected, an increase of 2 compared with 2017. Among the top 10 steel companies in the world, there are 6 companies listed in China.

Global electric furnace steelmaking ratio has steadily rebounded

From the production process point of view, in terms of production statistics, more than 70% of the world's crude steel is smelted by the blast furnace-converter long process, and most of the rest is electric furnace smelting. The global electric furnace steelmaking ratio gradually decreased from a high of 33.9% in 2000 to 24.2% in 2017, and it has steadily rebounded to 28.8% last year. It is worth mentioning that in 2018, China's electric furnace steel production accounted for 11.6%, which was the fourth consecutive year of increase; while the United States and Japan's electric furnace steel production ratio decreased compared with 2017. The share of electric furnace steel production in the United States decreased slightly from 68.4% in 2017 to 68.0%, and the proportion of Japanese electric furnace steel production decreased from 28% in 2017 to 25%.

In fact, from the distribution of electric steelmaking, Asian long-flow steelmaking still dominates. If Asia is removed, in the global steelmaking, electric steelmaking and converter steelmaking are “equal to the world”.

According to data released by the World Steel Association, the output of global direct reduced iron is increasing year by year, and the output is close to 100 million tons. In 2018, global direct reduced iron production has reached 99.8 million tons, an increase of 11 million tons from 2017. In recent years, as the steel market has warmed up, scrap resources have been in a state of world shortage, and direct reduced iron and hot briquetted iron are the best alternatives to scrap. Due to the difference in distribution and cost of reducing agent resources (natural gas) around the world, the distribution of direct reduced iron presents a strong geographical feature. In terms of distribution, the major producers of direct reduced iron in the world are concentrated in the Middle East represented by Iran. The direct reduction iron production in the Middle East has reached more than 40 million tons, accounting for nearly half of the world. In addition, India's direct reduced iron production is also considerable, reaching more than 30 million tons in 2018. According to previous forecasts of the World Steel Association, with the continuous increase in electric steelmaking output, global direct reduced iron production will reach 140 million tons by 2025.

From the perspective of global scrap import and export, the total volume of scrap trade has shown an overall upward trend. From the perspective of scrap exports, the United States is the world's largest exporter of scrap steel. In 2018, scrap exports reached 17.3 million tons; followed by the United Kingdom (8.8 million tons), Germany (8.2 million tons), and France (6.2 million tons). , the Netherlands (5.6 million tons), Russia (5.2 million tons). From the perspective of scrap imports, Turkey is the world's largest importer of scrap steel. In 2018, scrap imports reached 2007 million tons; the second and third respectively were South Korea (6.4 million tons) and Italy (5.6 million tons).

Global steel trade has grown slowly in recent years

From the perspective of global steel trade, since 2000, in addition to the 2008 financial crisis, global trade in bulk commodities has grown steadily. However, the volume of steel trade is subject to various factors. In the past five years, the increment has been limited and the growth rate has been slow.

According to the export volume of varieties, in 2018, the export volume of hot-rolled sheets and coils reached the highest, reaching 79 million tons; followed by steel ingots and semi-finished materials, reaching 60.2 million tons; the export volume of galvanized products reached 44.7 million tons; The export volume of accessories reached 41.3 million tons.

From a country perspective, in 2018, China’s net export volume reached 54.4 million tons, followed by Japan (29.8 million tons), Russia (27 million tons), and South Korea (15.1 million tons). Ukraine (13.5 million tons); of the net importers, the United States net imports reached 23.1 million tons, followed by the EU 28 countries (16.5 million tons), Thailand (13.6 million tons), the Philippines (9.1 million tons). From the perspective of export trade, China and Japan's export destinations are mainly in Asia, and the North American Free Trade Zone imports mainly from the EU and other Asian countries (except China and Japan).

In terms of iron ore production, global iron ore production totaled 2.167 billion tons in 2018, an increase of 74 million tons from 2017. Among the major iron ore producers, Australia produces 883 million tons of iron ore, an increase of 42 million tons from 2017; Brazil produces 435 million tons of iron ore, an increase of 4 million tons from 2017; India produces iron ore 2.01 billion tons, an increase of 17 million tons from 2017; China produces 115 million tons of iron ore (after adjustment), an increase of about 2 million tons from 2017.

From the perspective of iron ore trade, in 2018, the world's major iron ore export destinations are still Oceania (mainly Australia), with a total export volume of 890 million tons and a net export volume of 889 million tons. Export destinations mainly include China. (682 million tons), Japan (72.2 million tons), and other Asian countries (162 million tons); other countries in the Americas (mainly Brazil) have a total export volume of 426 million tons, and net exports reached 416 million tons, mainly for export purposes. The land includes China (240 million tons), Japan (35 million tons), and other Asian countries (43.2 million tons). From the perspective of imports, China is still the world's leading importer of iron ore. In 2018, iron ore imports reached 1.064 billion tons, mainly imported from Australia and Brazil.