The Ministry Of Industry And Information Technology Released The Development Plan Of Iron And Steel Industry, And The Domestic Self-Sufficiency Rate Of Iron And Metal Will Reach More Than 45% Within Five Years

After the epidemic, the industrial structure optimization of domestic steel industry is still continuing.

A few days ago, the Ministry of industry and information technology issued the guidance on promoting the high-quality development of the iron and steel industry (Draft) (hereinafter referred to as the "opinions") to enhance the industry's innovation ability, prohibit new steel production capacity, optimize and adjust industrial layout, accelerate merger and reorganization, orderly guide short process steelmaking, deeply promote green and low-carbon, vigorously develop intelligent manufacturing, and greatly improve quality We will solicit public opinions from all walks of life in the major tasks of quantitative efficiency, improving the ability to guarantee resources, deepening reform and opening-up cooperation, maintaining fair market order, and improving the level of intrinsic safety.

"With the efforts of iron and steel enterprises to speed up the optimization of product structure, further reduce costs and increase efficiency, the overall optimization of the industry structure and the ability to control raw materials are enhanced." Tang Chuanlin, a researcher at CITIC Securities, said that the profit center of the industry in the next five years has further room for improvement compared with last year.

Greatly increase the domestic self-sufficiency rate

It is clearly pointed out in the opinions that by 2025, the iron and steel industry will basically form a development pattern with reasonable industrial layout, advanced technology and equipment, outstanding quality brand, high intelligent level, strong global competitiveness and green, low-carbon and sustainable development.

In terms of resource guarantee, the domestic self-sufficiency rate of iron and metal should reach more than 45%, and the annual output of scrap steel resources in China should reach 300 million tons. 1-2 overseas equity iron mines with global influence and market competitiveness should be built. Overseas equity iron ores account for more than 20% of the imported ores. According to the calculation of Fubao information, the scrap steel supply in 2020 will be about 238 million tons. According to the conservative estimation of 5% growth rate, Tang Chuanlin is more likely to achieve the goal of scrap resource supply.

In response, Xu Xiangchun, the information director of iron and steel.com, said in an interview with the 21st century economic report: "iron metals are mainly iron ore and scrap steel. Iron ore is relatively scarce in domestic resources and relies heavily on imports. The degree of dependence on foreign countries is about 80%, reaching 90% at the highest time. At present, it is mainly imported from Australia and Brazil, which is difficult to change. "

In Xu Xiangchun's view, if the annual output of scrap steel resources in China is to leap from 200 million tons to 300 million tons, there will be more room for increment. "In the current situation of high dependence on iron ore imports, our bargaining power is in a passive position, and we are more vulnerable to fluctuations in the international political situation."

It is worth mentioning that in the second half of 2020, iron ore prices have been soaring. As a big exporter of iron ore, Australia has made huge profits. According to Australia's quarterly report on resources and energy released in December 2020, Australia's iron ore export revenue is expected to increase to US $123 billion (about 794.8 billion yuan). As the country's largest buyer of iron ore, up to 62% of China's iron ore imports in the fiscal year 2019-2020 come from Australia, according to Australian Resources Minister Peter Pitt.

In this case, China's internal willingness to get rid of dependence is also increasing. China's iron ore purchases have been falling in the past few months as iron ore prices have risen. Data show that China's iron ore imports fell 8.1% month on month to 98.15 million tons in November last year, the second consecutive month on month decline.

Xu Xiangchun pointed out: "the launch of the plan is related to the soaring iron ore price, but it is more a coincidence, which happens to be this node. It is a long-term goal to achieve a self-sufficiency rate of more than 45% in China, and it will be put forward if there is no soaring price rise. Domestic enterprises are absorbing existing resources through overseas M & A, but on the other hand, they are also developing new resources, such as Guinea iron ore project in West Africa. "

According to public information, the foundation laying ceremony of ximandu project port of win union was held in Guinea in October 2020, which also means that the development of Simandou project of win Union has entered a new stage. In the early stage, the port will provide an important material transportation channel for the infrastructure construction of the project, and will be used as an iron ore export port in the future.

The win union is a community initiated and established in Guinea by China Hongqiao group, Guinea UMS group, Yantai port group and Singapore welI international group. Winning alliance and the Guinean government signed the Simandou No.1 and No.2 ore block foundation convention in June 2020, and officially obtained the development right of the project. The reserves of high-grade iron ore in Simandou No.1 and No.2 ore blocks are estimated to be more than 2 billion tons. The ore vein is considered to be the world's largest undeveloped high-quality open-pit hematite ore. Since the signing of the basic convention, Simandou, the winning alliance, has fully launched mine geological exploration and other related work.

Xu Xiangchun believes that opportunities and challenges coexist for domestic iron and steel enterprises. "On the one hand, we can broaden diversified channels, increase investment cooperation and reduce dependence. On the other hand, there are greater challenges in terms of new resources, such as poor basic conditions and long investment cycle in West African countries. "

High quality development

In addition, the opinions put forward the goal of 40% / 60% of the industry concentration Cr5 / CR10 during the 14th Five Year Plan period, and cultivate 1-2 world-class professional leading enterprises in the subdivision fields of stainless steel, special steel, seamless steel pipe and cast pipe.

"Banning new production capacity, optimizing industrial layout and accelerating merger and reorganization will be the main ways to achieve the above goals," Tang predicted. At the same time, at present, the proportion of EAF steel and scrap steel in China's iron and steel industry is about 10% and 20% respectively. However, the target proposed in the opinions is to increase the proportion of EAF steel to 15% - 20% and the scrap ratio to 30%. This is also in line with the goal of improving scrap supply in terms of resource guarantee, so as to consume the increment of scrap steel with real demand. "

Under the background of integration and acceleration, upgrading of production equipment, promotion of R & D investment and optimization of product structure will become the main objectives of iron and steel enterprises.

"With the efforts of iron and steel enterprises to speed up the optimization of product structure and further reduce cost and efficiency, we expect that the profit center of the industry in the next five years will further rise compared with last year, with the overall optimization of the industry structure and the enhancement of the control ability of raw materials," Tang Chuanlin said

At the same time, the Opinions also put forward certain requirements for green and low-carbon, that is, to promote the coupling development between industries, build a cross resource recycling system, and strive to take the lead in achieving the peak of carbon emissions. The completion rate of the industry's ultra-low emission transformation has reached more than 80%. All enterprises in key areas have completed the transformation of ultra-low emission. The total amount of pollutant emission has been reduced by more than 20%, the total energy consumption and intensity have been reduced by more than 5%, the consumption intensity of water resources has been reduced by more than 10%, and the reuse rate of water has reached more than 98%.

In this regard, Xu Xiangchun analyzed that "industrial coupling development is a systematic project, which needs to contact upstream and downstream enterprises and surrounding enterprises to recycle resources, and the most important thing is to need policy support."