steel leads the transformation of traditional industries

Steel Leads the Transformation and Upgrading of Traditional Industries

China is a big manufacturing country, in which traditional industries account for more than 80%. Whether traditional industries can successfully achieve transformation and upgrading directly affects the construction process of China from a manufacturing power to a manufacturing power. From the three mentions of “traditional industries” in the Central Economic Work Conference of the Communist Party of China in December 2022: “Pay close attention to the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries”, “enhance the status and competitiveness of traditional industries in the global industrial distribution” and “promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional products”, to the first meeting of the 20th Central Financial and Economic Commission in May this year again emphasized: Insist on promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, can not be regarded as a “low-end industry” simple exit, the central government has repeatedly on the transformation and upgrading of China’s traditional industries clear attitude, traditional industries are not equal to backward low-end industries, can not be “one pass”. This will inject a policy boost to the development of many traditional industries, including steel, which are in the critical period of transformation and upgrading, further strengthen faith, boost confidence, encourage morale, and accelerate the realization of high-quality development of traditional industries.

Steel is a typical traditional industry

Traditional industries are relative to emerging industries. In China, traditional industries mainly include food processing, textiles, machinery, building materials, steel, chemicals, paper and other industries. As a typical representative of traditional industries, iron and steel has a large industrial scale and accounts for a high proportion of the manufacturing industry. Whether it can be successfully transformed and upgraded will affect the process of building a strong manufacturing country in China.

When the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, the foundation of my country’s iron and steel industry was weak. Not only was the technology and equipment backward, but the annual output of crude steel was only 158,000 tons, which was far from meeting the needs of economic development. By 1996 and 2020, my country’s crude steel output exceeded 100 million tons and 1 billion tons respectively, ranking first in the world for 27 consecutive years, and crude steel output accounted for more than 50% of the world’s total for 6 consecutive years, making it the world’s largest steel producer China and consumer countries have strongly supported my country’s infrastructure construction, national defense industry, and equipment manufacturing, and promoted the development of China’s industrialization and modernization.

Steel leads the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries

Accelerating the transformation and upgrading of the iron and steel industry to achieve high-quality development is the primary task of the entire industry during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period. China’s iron and steel industry is not only not a representative of backward “low-end industries”, but is leading the development of the national manufacturing industry in terms of green development, intelligent manufacturing, and standard construction.

1. Remarkable achievements in green development

The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that it is necessary to accelerate the green transformation of the development mode, implement a comprehensive conservation strategy, and develop green and low-carbon industries. The iron and steel industry is an important area for China to achieve green and low-carbon development. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the concept of green development of the iron and steel industry has been continuously strengthened, environmental protection governance, energy conservation and emission reduction have achieved remarkable results, and the level of comprehensive utilization of resources has continued to improve.

In particular, after the implementation of the Opinions on Promoting the Implementation of Ultra-Low Emissions in the Steel Industry (Atmospheric [2019] No. 35) in 2019, the green development process of the steel industry has accelerated. The ultra-low emission transformation is the world’s most stringent emission index requirements, which fully demonstrates China’s determination to environmental governance as a responsible major country. By the end of April 2023, 50 enterprises in China have completed the whole process of ultra-low emission transformation and evaluation and monitoring of about 253 million tons of crude steel production capacity, and 27 enterprises have completed some aspects of the transformation of about 162 million tons of crude steel production capacity (organized, unorganized or clean transportation). There are also 48 enterprises that are undergoing expert review before publicity and further improvement and rectification of enterprises, involving steel production capacity of about 89 million tons. The environment of steel factories continues to improve, and more than 20 4A and 3A scenic spots have been built across the country. Ultra-low emission transformation is not only a model of green transformation of traditional industries in China, but also the largest and unprecedented green project in the world, achieving the green leadership of the global steel industry.

2. Advanced intelligent manufacturing

The iron and steel industry is a typical process manufacturing industry, and the implementation of intelligent manufacturing upgrading can not only reduce costs and improve product quality, but also improve production efficiency and operational safety. From manual assisted steel rolling to the “black light factory” and intelligent workshop built by enterprises, the current CNC rate of key processes in China’s steel industry has reached 68.7%, leading the intelligent upgrading of the industrial field.

In 2021-2022, the iron and steel industry and its extension industries have built 19 intelligent manufacturing demonstration factories, 41 intelligent manufacturing excellent scenarios, and 19 industrial Internet demonstration projects have been selected for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s “intelligent manufacturing pilot demonstration” and “Industrial Internet pilot demonstration”, significantly higher than the average number of 41 industrial categories.

3. Standard construction continues to lead

The development of steel standardization is closely related to the development stage of China’s economy and the development process of steel industry. Since the founding of New China, steel standardization has always been at the forefront of industrial standardization, which has strongly supported the sustainable and healthy development of the steel industry and provided standard support for China to move from “steel power” to “steel power”.

As of the end of 2022, in terms of domestic, the iron and steel industry is among the top three in the country in terms of secretariat and chairman positions, and the number of current standards exceeds 3,600, including more than 1,600 international standards, nearly 1,500 industry standards, and more than 300 CISA and CSTM group standards (good activity). Formed a trinity standard system of international, industry and group; Internationally, the number of international standards issued by the steel industry and the number of ISO outstanding contribution awards ranked first in the country, and the standards issued by China accounted for 4.04% of the total number of international standards issued by ISO, of which the standards issued by China in the field of steel accounted for 11.7% of ISO steel related standards, accounting for 11.3% of the total number of national releases. Compared with other industries, steel standardization is at a leading level in the revision and release of domestic and international standards.

In addition, the large-scale development of steel industry equipment is progressing rapidly. China’s steel industry equipment has always been constantly updated and upgraded, especially since the “13th Five-Year Plan” to carry out supply-side structural reform, the speed of large-scale equipment has been further accelerated. From January 2017 to the end of April 2023, the country has announced replacement projects to build iron production capacity of about 360 million tons, steel production capacity of about 400 million tons, the corresponding withdrawal of iron production capacity of about 410 million tons, steel production capacity of about 450 million tons, a large number of restricted equipment concentrated withdrawal, and the rapid advancement of steel industry equipment upgrading.

China has established the world’s most complete industrial chain, the largest steel industry system, equipped with the world’s most advanced equipment, technology and technology, to provide the world with the most comprehensive steel products.

Recently, Zheng Zhajie, secretary of the Party Group and director of the National Development and Reform Commission, stressed that traditional industries are the main body of China’s manufacturing industry, with strong international competitiveness, and are the basis for building a modern industrial system, which cannot be simply labeled as “low-end backward” and simply quit as “low-end industries”. Xin Guobin, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, pointed out that “For a period of time, some places have had a misunderstanding of the development of traditional industries, such as high-load energy industries such as steel, petrochemicals, nonferrous metals, and building materials, which are equal to backward industries and sunset industries.” In fact, the total energy consumption and emissions of these industries are more determined by the characteristics of the industry and the total size of the industry, which does not mean lagging behind.” The steel industry is not only a backward industry, low-end industry, as mentioned above, but is a successful model of continuous transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and is in a leading position in green development, intelligent manufacturing, and standardization work.