晟鑫冷轧

In 2024, the steel industry in Hebei Province will fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party, the second and third plenary sessions of the 20th Central Committee, and the important instructions made by General Secretary Xi Jinping during his multiple inspections of Hebei Province. It will resolutely implement the decisions and deployments of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government, withstand the pressures of the temporary imbalance between supply and demand in the steel industry, the continuous decline in steel prices, and the high prices of raw materials, seeking development against the trend, striving with determination, and pursuing innovation through reform, achieving a healthy, orderly, and stable operation.
The development achievements of Hebei's steel industry are noteworthy.
Overall, in 2024, the steel industry in Hebei Province mainly achieved the following results:
First, the overall operation of the industry is stable and improving. The pillar position of the steel industry in Hebei Province remains solid. From January to November 2024, the production of crude steel, pig iron, and steel products in Hebei Province reached 186.95 million tons, 177.87 million tons, and 293.97 million tons, respectively, with year-on-year decreases of 6.4%, 3.5%, and an increase of 4.9%. During the same period, Hebei Province exported a total of 7.13 million tons of steel, a year-on-year increase of 62.80%; imported 43,700 tons of steel, a year-on-year decrease of 30.89%. The operating income of the black metal smelting and rolling processing industry in Hebei Province reached 1,337.19 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 6.1%; the total profit was 1.755 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 60.9%. In November 2024, the total profit of the black metal smelting and rolling processing industry in Hebei Province reached 4.264 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 173.36%.
Second, based on the implementation of "resolutely reducing capacity," actively promote "proactive adjustment and accelerated transformation." Currently, the top 10 steel enterprises in Hebei Province account for 64.3% of the total capacity; among the main equipment, the average furnace capacity of the operational blast furnaces and converters has reached 1,500 cubic meters and over 130 tons, respectively, both at the leading level in the country. The industrial layout along the railway and port in Hebei Province has basically taken shape, with a number of technology-intensive projects and parks emerging rapidly, continuously producing high-end products.
Third, it leads in the comprehensive creation of A-level environmental performance. The Hebei Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government took the lead in the country to innovate and deploy a comprehensive A-level environmental performance creation action, with the steel industry in Hebei Province bravely taking the lead and serving as a model among the seven key industries in the province. The 55 operational smelting enterprises in Hebei Province have all completed ultra-low emission transformations and further achieved A-level environmental performance. 39 smelting plants in Hebei Province were selected as green factories by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, ranking first in the country, making it a veritable "top student."
Fourth, "high-end" development is accelerating, and "differentiation" is achieving new breakthroughs. Hebei Province encourages steel enterprises to implement technological transformations, promoting the optimization and upgrading of steel products, with an increasingly obvious trend towards the development of high-quality special steel, special alloy steel, and high-purity iron. From January to November 2024, the proportion of high-end steel production in Hebei Province reached 21.3%. Companies such as Hebei Steel Group Zhangxuan Technology, Shougang Qian'an, and Longfengshan Casting have deeply practiced the transformation from "steel to materials," achieving fruitful results in green and low-carbon initiatives. At the same time, the steel industry in Hebei Province is fully committed to extending, supplementing, and strengthening the industrial chain, vigorously developing deep processing of steel products. Hebei Steel's market share in home appliance panels ranks first in the country, and its market share in automotive steel ranks second; Shougang Zhixin Qian'an Electromagnetic Materials Co., Ltd. has entered the world's top tier of transformer material suppliers, with several oriented electrical steel products achieving global premieres.
Fifth, the pace of digital transformation and intelligent upgrades has significantly accelerated. The digital transformation alliance of the steel industry in Hebei Province is planning at a high starting point and high standard, strengthening the top-level design of digital intelligence, with digital transformation and intelligent construction turning from blueprint to reality. Currently, the level of integration of industrialization and informatization in the steel industry in Hebei Province has reached 67.2%, which is 7.5 percentage points higher than the provincial average, ranking first in the province's manufacturing industry; 7 steel enterprises have been rated as national-level intelligent manufacturing demonstration factories, accounting for 1/4 of the national total; the digitalization rate of production equipment and the networking rate of digital production equipment have reached 53.9% and 59.8%, respectively, both higher than the national average, with typical application scenarios continuously expanding. Shougang Jingtang, Hebei Steel Tangshan, and other enterprises have been included in the first batch of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's list of excellent intelligent factories.
Sixth, actively integrate into the "Belt and Road" initiative and promote international development. As China's steel industry enters a period of adjustment and restructuring, accelerating international development has become a pressing issue for leading steel enterprises. On April 29, 2024, President Xi Jinping replied to a letter from a Serbian employee of Hebei Steel, which greatly encouraged all steel workers. In addition, companies such as Jingye Yingang and Indonesia Dexin are operating steadily, promoting the accelerated international development of Hebei's steel industry.
In 2025, multiple measures will be taken to promote the high-quality development of Hebei's steel industry.
2025 is not only the concluding year of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the planning year for the 15th Five-Year Plan, but also a key year for the steel industry to stabilize expectations, break the "involution" under the pressure of "three highs and three lows," and seek to emerge from a deep adjustment period. In 2025, the steel industry in Hebei Province will take multiple measures to successfully conclude the 14th Five-Year Plan.
First, set the development goal of "no increase in output, but a doubling of output value." First, the goal of "no increase in output, but a doubling of output value" (no increase in primary material output, but significant changes in product variety and secondary and tertiary material output) should be set as the development goal for the steel industry in Hebei Province, addressing the issues of crowded competition and homogeneity in the industry. Second, the spirit of the "Resolution of the Seventh Plenary Session of the Tenth Committee of the Communist Party of China in Hebei Province" must be fully and accurately implemented, focusing on creating new process materials, enhancing the industry's innovation capability, and supporting enterprises in improving their R&D systems. The steel industry in Hebei Province should fully leverage the leading role of innovation platforms such as the Yanzhao Steel Laboratory to accelerate the R&D of high-end steel grades; deeply participate in the entire process of enterprises applying new technologies, build national-level enterprise technology centers, and establish first-class characteristic brands. Finally, steel enterprises in Hebei Province should attach great importance to extending, supplementing, and strengthening the industrial chain, ensuring the safe, stable, and orderly operation of the entire steel industry chain; targeting downstream industry demands, providing near-final products; leveraging the advantages of the port cluster around the Bohai Sea to increase the proportion of trade minerals, and ensuring resource and economic operation safety through the establishment of "iron ore supermarkets" and other platforms.
Second, develop steel-consuming industrial clusters to strengthen the steel-consuming industry. Hebei Province will rely on the scale and technological innovation advantages of the steel and equipment manufacturing industries to create a number of sources and gathering areas for advanced manufacturing development, establish a number of strategically emerging industry growth engines with distinct characteristics, complementary advantages, and reasonable structures, strengthen a number of backbone enterprises with high industry relevance and strong innovation capabilities, and cultivate a number of "specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative" small giant enterprises and "single champion" enterprises, further enlarging and strengthening the steel-consuming industry; with "shared intelligent manufacturing" as a breakthrough, technological innovation as a guide, leading enterprises as a support, and quality standards as a traction, vigorously promote the transformation and upgrading of characteristic industrial clusters, pushing industrial clusters towards "new" development, striving for "quality," and breaking through "upward"; focusing on strengthening and enlarging the local demand "cake," forming a seamless connection of development between steel and downstream industries.
Third, make the green and low-carbon transformation a permanent topic. Steel enterprises in Hebei Province are at the forefront of green and low-carbon development and green steel product production in the country, but they also bear relatively high production costs and R&D investments, which to some extent weaken the market competitiveness of their products. As other regional steel enterprises in China accelerate their ultra-low emission transformations and the demand for green products in downstream industries gradually materializes, green low-carbon steel will have greater market value and competitiveness. The steel industry in Hebei Province should gradually transform its green advantages into competitive advantages, make full use of new energy, develop low-carbon metallurgy in an orderly manner, actively promote the publication of EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) reports and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) reports, and vigorously implement extreme energy efficiency projects; carry out certification work for green low-carbon emission steel, promote the development of the "Hebei Green Steel" brand group, and conduct publicity for the green steel brand, telling the story of the green steel brand well.
Fourth, promote industrial innovation through technological innovation and cultivate new productive forces in steel. Companies such as Hebei Iron and Steel Group Zhangxuan Technology, Shougang Qiangang, and Longfengshan Foundry have set good examples in the transition from "steel to materials, manufacturing to services." The steel industry in Hebei Province should take the Yanzhao Steel Laboratory as the source and new engine for new material R&D, focusing on accelerating the advancement of green low-carbon metallurgy technology, digital development, and the development and application of advanced vanadium-titanium materials, solidly promoting the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation, and accelerating the cultivation of new productive forces in steel.
Fifth, deeply implement the digital transformation project and firmly establish the concept that "digital intelligence is a ladder." As one of the three major projects in the steel industry, digital transformation is the "ladder" for steel enterprises to achieve high-quality development. On December 30, 2024, the Digital Transformation Promotion Center of the steel industry was established, marking a new stage in the digital transformation project of the steel industry. Steel enterprises in Hebei Province should seize opportunities, accelerate the resolution of transformation difficulties, and smooth out transformation pain points, making full use of big data and vertical models to truly lead enterprises towards digital intelligence.
Sixth, grasp high-quality development from multiple dimensions to ensure the stable and healthy operation of the industry. Enterprises should be evaluated for development quality according to six dimensions: "investment has returns, products have markets, enterprises have profits, employees have income, governments have tax revenues, and the environment has improvements." Gradually establish a production control mechanism that is conducive to the full play of advanced production capacity, promotes survival of the fittest, and balances supply and demand, empowering steel enterprises to transform from traditional producers to brand service providers, thus enabling high-quality development in the industry.
In the future, the steel industry in Hebei Province will ride the momentum, anchor the goal of high-quality development, focus on green low-carbon transformation and digital development, and carry forward the excellent style of Hebei steel workers who are particularly capable of fighting, making new and greater contributions to the "Hebei Steel Chapter" in the effort to write the modernization of China.

(The author is the Executive President and Secretary-General of the Hebei Metallurgical Industry Association)

Editor: Zhang Yutian

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