These steel heavyweights are truly impressive! Thanks to domestic demand, China's steel production has seen a significant increase since 2019. From January to September 2019, the crude steel output reached 748 million tons, up 8.4% year-on-year.Precision Steel PipeSteel production (including duplicate materials) reached 909 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 10.6%. The China Iron and Steel Association analysis points out that in the first three quarters, driven by various national measures to stabilize growth, major projects across the country were launched, creating a favorable market environment for the steel industry. Steel companies seized market opportunities, met market demand, achieved stable and increased production, but the industry also faced issues such as rapid capacity release.

Looking ahead to 2020, China's steel demand is expected to reach 881 million tons, a decrease of 0.6% year-on-year. According to the China Iron and Steel Research Institute, the Chinese economy is expected to maintain overall stable growth, but the growth rate may further slow down. Steel demand in industries such as construction, automotive, and shipbuilding will decline, while the demand in the machinery industry will remain relatively stable. The demand for steel in sectors like energy and home appliances will continue to grow.

In 2020, steel consumption in the construction sector is forecasted at 475 million tons, down 0.6% year-on-year; the demand for steel in the machinery industry is expected to remain at current levels, with an annual consumption of 142 million tons; the steel demand in the automotive sector is approximately 48.2 million tons, down 3.6% year-on-year; the energy sector's steel demand is around 34.5 million tons, up 1.5% year-on-year; the shipbuilding industry's steel demand is about 10 million tons, down 11.5% year-on-year; the steel demand for home appliance industry is set to reach 14 million tons, up 3.7% year-on-year; and the steel demand in the railway sector is approximately 5.5 million tons, up 1.9% year-on-year.

For the global steel demand situation, the China Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute released its forecast results showing that the global steel consumption in 2019 was approximately 1.781 billion tons, an increase of 4.1% year-on-year; and the global steel demand in 2020 was approximately 1.802 billion tons, a rise of 1.2% year-on-year.