ANN/CHINA DAILY – China’s steel
industry has been accelerating the optimisation of steel variety structure in
pace with the adjustment and optimisation of national industrial structures,
the China Iron and Steel Industry Association (CISA) said on Wednesday.
Data
showed that in the first half of this year, the output of steel mostly used in
construction, bridges and machinery dropped year-on-year, while that in areas
including auto and ship manufacturing continued to grow.
Head of
the association Yao Lin said at a CISA council meeting that since the beginning
of the year, China’s steel sector has been coping with challenges, including an
imbalance between market supply and demand, falling steel prices, high raw
material prices and low economic efficiency.
The
overall production and operation of the industry have remained generally
stable, Yao said, adding that with the transformation and upgrading continuing
to advance and the constantly optimised variety structure, the higher demand
for steel products in the downstream industry was effectively met.
The
steel industry’s pace of green transformation has accelerated significantly,
and intelligent manufacturing has been upgraded, he said.
Currently,
the number of enterprises that use industrial Internet technology to achieve
smart production process control accounted for 79.6 per cent of the total.
Yao
said that the manufacturing industry will be the main driving force to support
the steel sector.
The
rapid development of new energy vehicles, the increase in orders for new
energy-powered ships, and the accelerated renewal of old ships will support the
demand for steel, and large-scale equipment renewal will also bring development
opportunities for the equipment manufacturing industry, according to Yao.
