Seven characteristics of steel industry operation in the first half of the year

In the first half of this year, China's steel industry gradually shrugged off the impact of the epidemic, resumed production and production in an orderly manner and maintained a stable operation, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on July 30.

The operation of the steel industry presents seven characteristics:

First, the production maintains the high level operation.In June, China's output of pig iron, crude steel and steel was 77.64 million tons, 91.58 million tons and 11.585 million tons, up by 4.1 percent, 4.5 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively.From January to June, China's output of pig iron, crude steel and steel was 433 million tons, 499 million tons and 606 million tons respectively, up 2.2 percent, 1.4 percent and 2.7 percent year-on-year.

Second, steel prices hovering low.China's steel price index averaged 103.1 points in June, down 5.4% from a year earlier, according to the China Iron and Steel Association.From January to June, China's steel price index averaged 101.0 points, a year-on-year decline of 7.7%, including an average decline of 8.2% for long materials and 7.5% for plates.

Third, the steel trade pressure climbs.According to the General Administration of Customs, China's exports of steel in June totaled 3.701 million tons, down 30.2 percent from a year earlier.Imports of steel reached 1.878 million tons, up 98.7% year on year.From January to June, the country exported 28.704 million tons of steel, down 16.5% year on year.China imported 7.343 million tons of steel, up 26.1 percent year on year.

Fourth, economic performance has declined sharply.According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, ferrous metal metallurgy and rolling processing industry realized 639.1 billion yuan in revenue in June, up 6.0% year on year.The total profit reached 34.75 billion yuan, up 35.3% year-on-year.From January to June, the ferrous metal metallurgy and rolling processing industry realized an operating income of 3.186.04 billion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 3.8%;The total profit reached 84.08 billion yuan, down 40.3% year-on-year.

Fifth, steel inventory to maintain high.According to China Iron and Steel Association monitoring, in late June, the key statistics enterprise steel inventory 13.62 million tons, 330,000 tons more than the end of last month, an increase of 2.5%;Year-on-year growth was 2.39 million tons, or 21.3%.The social stock of the five types of steel (medium plate, cold-rolled sheet, hot-rolled sheet, wire and rebar) in the major steel markets in China was 12.16 million tons, down 960,000 tons month-on-month or 7.3%.An increase of 710,000 tons or 6.2% year on year.

Sixth, ore import prices increased.According to the General Administration of Customs, iron ore imports in June reached 10.1.68 million tons, up 16.8% month-on-month and 35.3% year-on-year.The average import price was US $100.8 / ton, up by 10.0% month-on-month.From January to June, iron ore imports totaled 546.91 million tons, up 9.6% from the same period last year.The average import price was US $90.2 / ton, up 0.9% year on year and 1.8% from the first quarter.

Seventh, steel consumption continues to grow.In June, China's apparent crude steel consumption was 90.31 million tons, up 8.6% year on year.From January to June, the apparent consumption of crude steel in China was 480.66 million tons, up by 3.8% year on year.According to the situation of the downstream steel industry, compared with the first quarter, the area under construction of real estate, the output of automobiles and the output of ships increased by 145.8%, 87.1% and 55.9% respectively in the second quarter, which strongly supported the growth of steel output.