Layout of Chinas Iron Ore and Steel Industry Production
Introduction
The steel industry has been the pillar of Chinas economic development, accounting for the largest proportion of the total industrial output value. Chinas iron ore and steel industry backbone enterprises have accounted for a large share of the worlds total. In recent years, Chinas iron ore and steel industry has entered a new stage of development. In the context of the strategic adjustment of the global iron and steel industry and the change in the macroeconomic environment, the layout of Chinas iron ore and steel industry production has also adjusted accordingly, with major changes in the output scale, industrial structure, product structure and technology level, and positive effects on the industry and the national economic development level.
Domestic iron ore mining Scale expansion
The demand of Chinese steelmaking industry for imported iron ore has been gradually increasing, leading to Chinas iron ore output increase and iron ore production scale expansion. According to statistics, China iron ore output from January to October 2017 was 1.22 billion tons, with a year-on-year growth of 14.6%. Domestic iron ore mine production has been constantly increasing, leading to the expansion of Chinas iron ore production scale.
The output scale of iron ore is mainly concentrated in Shandong, Hebei and Liaoning provinces. During 2017, their iron ore production output accounted for 53.5% of the total output, and there has been a dramatic increase in iron ore output, showing that the layout of Chinas iron ore production scale is constantly expanding and larger iron ore production scale.
Optimization of iron and steel industry resource distribution
In recent years, the iron and steel production base has centralized and transferred from inland to coastal areas, with more iron and steel resources transferred to the eastern coastal areas and surrounding provinces, forming a continuous production chain of “iron ore, iron and steel, and Shenhua”. Under the policy of “encouragement and control”, the iron and steel industry has constantly optimized its resource distribution, gradually forming a new iron and steel industry regional structure covering the whole country.
In the resource distribution of iron and steel enterprises, in 2017, the coast was the main force, with the share of enterprises reaching 80.3%. In terms of geographical distribution, the top three regions with the highest number of iron and steel enterprises in the country are the Bohai Rim, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, which together account for about 60% of the total number of enterprises. Most of the iron and steel enterprises in the eastern region deploy their processed products according to the “resource driven” principle, and the industry is more agglomerated, leading to the adjustment and optimization of the national resource distribution pattern.
Structure adjustment of steel products
The steel industry is an important base for the national economic construction, and its product structure directly affects the economic development level. In the face of the changing macroeconomic environment and the rapid development of Chinas human resources, the product structure of Chinas steel industry has also undergone adjustments, resulting in a decline in the proportion of traditional steel products in the overall output structure.
According to statistics released by the China Steel Association, in 2017, the output of long steel products increased by 13.5% compared with the same period of the previous year, while the output of flat steel products decreased by 2.7%. More precisely, the output of rebar increased by 13.5%, that of hot-rolled sheets decreased by 2.8%, that of cold-rolled sheets decreased by 6.3%, and the output of thin sheets decreased by 3.3%. This shows that the product structure of steel industry has undergone a major change, with a significant decline in the proportion of traditional steel products.
Growth of Iron Ore Trade Scale
In addition to the change in domestic iron ore output, Chinas iron ore imports also increased significantly, leading to the further increase in Chinas iron ore trade scale. According to statistics from the China Iron and Steel Association, in the first ten months of 2017, China imported a total of 817.11 million tons of iron ore, an increase of 22.3% year on year.
At the same time, Chinas exports of iron ore have also grown steadily. In the first ten months of 2017, Chinas exports of iron ore amounted to 136.72 million tons, an increase of 10.5% compared with the same period of last year. This shows that compared to the domestic market, the export volume of Chinas iron ore is still far behind, but the trend of large export volume is obvious.
Technology Upgrade
As an important base material industry of the national economy, the development of the steel industry not only needs a certain scale of production, but also needs the support of science and technology. Chinas steel industry constantly optimizes the overall scientific and technological level, and forms a new structure system conforming to the development trend of the industry.
At present, Chinas steel industry has realized the development of various cutting-edge process technologies. For example, in terms of smelting process, it has realized the large-scale use of BOF process, EAF process and converter smelting process; in terms of ironmaking, direct reduction technology has been developed and put into use, and preliminary research on iron ore carbothermic reduction technology has been conducted. In addition, hot rolling production lines with advanced equipment such as 1900 rolling mill and 4500mm reversible hot rolling production line have been widely used. The application of these advanced process technologies has made a great contribution to the technological progress of Chinas steel industry and the optimization of its structure.
Conclusions
As the economy of China continues to develop, and guided by the policies of the government, the iron ore and steel industry will have a bright future. The layout of Chinas iron ore and steel industry production has been adjusted accordingly, with major changes in the output scale, industrial structure, product structure and technology level, and positive effects on the industry and the national economic development level. The technological progress of Chinas steel industry has greatly increased, and various advanced process technologies are widely used, making a great contribution to the technological progress of Chinas steel industry and the optimization of its structure.
References
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Li, J and Xie, J 2017, Optimization of iron and steel industry resource distrinbution and its spatial implitation, Sciences, vol.7, no.5.
Li, J and Li, Y 2017, Technological upgrade of chinese steel industry, Sciences, vol.8, no.4.
Shen, Y et al 2017, Macroscopic Analysis of the layout of Chinese iron ore production scale, Resources and Environment, vol.3, no.10.
Yu, K 2018, Development of Chinas Iron Ore and Steel Industry, The Chinese Journal of iron and steel industry, vol.14, no.1.
