China FAMOUS Steel Engineering Company Company News

Due to its own advantages, steel structures are widely used in modern buildings such as bridges, industrial plants, and high-rise buildings. In a large number of engineering construction processes, steel structure engineering has also exposed many quality problems. This paper mainly focuses on Liaoning's recent problems in the main experience of steel structure acceptance and completion acceptance and rectification measures. 1. Production problems of components The plate used for the portal steel frame is very thin and can be used up to 4 mm. The cutting of multiple sheets should be preferred for cutting and avoiding flame cutting. Because cutting with flame will cause great wave deformation at the edge of the board. At present, most manufacturers of H-beam welding use submerged arc welding or semi-automatic welding. If the control is not good, the welding deformation should occur, causing the member to bend or twist. 2. Column foot installation problem (1) Pre-embedded parts (anchor bolts) Problem phenomenon: overall or layout offset; the elevation is incorrect; the threaded fasteners are not protected. Directly causing the bolt holes in the steel column bottom plate to be misaligned, resulting in insufficient thread length. Measures: The steel structure construction unit cooperates with the civil construction unit to complete the work of the embedded parts before the concrete is poured. The relevant dimensions must be reviewed and secured. (2) The anchor bolt is not vertical: the horizontalness of the bottom of the frame column is not the same, the anchor bolt is not vertical, and the horizontal error of the pre-embedded anchor is too large after the foundation construction. After the column is installed, it is not in a straight line, and it is difficult to see the appearance of the house. It brings errors to the installation of the steel column, and the structural stress is affected, which does not meet the requirements of the construction acceptance specification. Measures: The installation of anchor bolts should be carried out by first leveling the bottom plate with the lower adjusting bolts, and then filling it with secondary grouting without shrinking mortar. Therefore, when anchor bolt construction, fixed anchor bolts such as steel bars or angle steel can be used. Welding into cages, perfecting the support, or taking other effective measures to avoid moving the anchor bolt one bit when pouring the foundation concrete. (3) Anchor bolt connection problem: the column foot anchor bolt is not tightened, the pad plate is not welded to the bottom plate; some anchor bolts that do not expose 2 to 3 thread buttons. Measures: Welding bolts and nuts should be adopted; outside the chemical anchors, fireproof coatings and heat insulation should be thickened to prevent anchoring performance during fire; the foundation settlement observation data should be supplemented. 3. Connection problems (1) High-strength bolt connection 1) The bolt equipment surface does not meet the requirements, resulting in poor bolt installation, or the degree of bolt fastening does not meet the design requirements. Cause Analysis: 1. There are impurities such as floating rust and oil on the surface, and there are burrs and welds in the bolt holes. 2. The bolt mounting surface is still defective after being processed. Solution: 1. The surface of high-strength bolts, such as floating rust, oil stains and bolt holes, should be cleaned one by one. It must be rust-proofed before use, so that the bolts for assembly should not be used in the formal assembly. Bolts should be kept and distributed by a special person. 2. Handling the assembly surface should take into account the construction and installation sequence, prevent repeated, and try to handle it before lifting. 2) The bolt thread is damaged, and the screw cannot be screwed into the nut freely, which affects the assembly of the bolt. Analysis of the cause: The thread is severely rusted. Solution: 1. Before use, the bolts should be selected, cleaned and rusted for pre-matching. 2. The bolts damaged by the thread cannot be used as temporary bolts. It is strictly forbidden to force the screw holes. 3. Pre-opted bolt assemblies shall be stored in sets and shall not be interchangeable during use. (2) On-site weld phenomenon: the quality is difficult to guarantee; the design requires full penetration of the first and second welds without ultrasonic flaw detection; the main beam and column of the floor are not welded; the arc runner is not used for welding. Solution: Before welding the steel structure, check the welding certificate. Select the welding strip according to the design requirements. Use the welding rod according to the instructions and operating procedures. There must be no cracks or welds on the surface of the weld. First and second welds. There shall be no stomata, slag inclusions or crater cracks. The first-order weld shall not have any defects such as undercut and under-welding. The first and second welds shall be non-destructively tested as required. The welder's steel shall be inspected at the specified welds and parts. . Unqualified welds shall not be disposed of without authorization. After the modification process is determined, the number of weld repairs in the same part shall not exceed two times. 4. Component deformation problem (1) The component is deformed during transportation, and there is a dead bend or a slow bend, which makes the component unable to be installed. Cause Analysis: 1) The deformation caused by welding during the production of the component generally exhibits a gentle bend. 2) When the component is to be transported, the support point is unreasonable, such as the underlay is not vertical, or the stacking site is sunken, causing the component to produce a dead bend or a slow deformation. 3) The deformation of the component during transportation due to collision, generally showing a dead bend. Precaution: 1) When manufacturing components, measures to reduce welding distortion are used. 2) In assembly welding, measures such as deformation in the opposite direction are adopted. The assembly sequence should be in accordance with the welding sequence. The assembled tires should be used to set up enough brackets to prevent deformation. 3) Pay attention to the reasonable arrangement of the pads during transportation and transportation. Solution: 1) The deformation of the member is usually bent by mechanical correction. Use a jack or other tool to correct or supplement with oxyacetylene flame after grilling. 2) When the structure is subjected to slow bending deformation, it is corrected by oxyacetylene flame heating. (2) The full-length distortion of the steel beam members after assembly is more than the allowable value, resulting in poor installation quality of the steel beams. Cause Analysis: 1) The splicing process is unreasonable. 2) The size of the assembled node does not meet the design requirements. Solution: 1) Assemble the components to be assembled, and the bottom surface of the components should be leveled to prevent warpage. The assembly workbench shall be at the level of each fulcrum, and welding deformation shall be prevented during the welding. In particular, the final assembly of the beam section or the stairway should be adjusted after the positioning welding. Note that the size of the joint should conform to the design, otherwise the component may be distorted. 2) The components with poor rigidity should be reinforced before turning over the welding. After the components are turned over, they should be leveled, otherwise the components cannot be corrected after welding. (3) The member is arched, the value is large or less than the design value. When the value of the arching of the component is small, the beam is bent downward after installation; when the value of the arching is large, the elevation of the extruded surface is likely to exceed the standard. Cause Analysis: 1) The component size does not meet the design requirements. 2) During the erection process, it is not corrected based on the measured value and the calculated value. 3) Bridges with small spans have a small degree of arching and are ignored during assembly. Solution: 1) Perform each step of inspection strictly according to the allowable deviation of steel structural members. 2) During the erection process, the rods are installed and the construction of the joints at the site is completed, and the upper crown is measured, and other adjustments are made during the construction. 3) In the small assembly process, the cumulative deviation should be strictly controlled, and measures should be taken to eliminate the influence of the welding shrinkage. 5. Steel structure installation problem (1) Pre-control measures for the foot of the steel column Before the steel column is hoisted, the basic elevation should be strictly controlled, the measurement should be accurate, and the basic surface should be carefully leveled according to the measured value; if the secondary grouting method is used, the bottom of the column foot should be watered. Hole (also used as vent hole), use steel pad to flatten the bottom of the steel column, and pre-position the steel plate of the column foot according to the design elevation, and then take the secondary grout. (2) Pre-control measures for steel column displacement Before pouring the concrete foundation, the pre-embedded bolts are clamped according to the design position by the shaping chuck to prevent displacement when the concrete is poured; the reserved holes of the lower steel plate should be enlarged to determine the hole position. Make a reserved hole. (3) The vertical deviation of the column is too large. The pre-control measures shall be hoisted in accordance with the calculated hanging point, and the lifting method of two points or more shall be adopted. Temporary fixing shall be carried out during lifting to prevent hoisting deformation; after the column is in place Temporary support should be added in time; vertical deviation should be corrected before fixing. Conclusion: Only in the process of construction management, strengthen the training and training of technical personnel and workers on the standardization and operation procedures, effectively prepare for the start of construction, strengthen the quality control and supervision and inspection during the construction process, and actively exert various aspects such as construction and supervision. The role of the sub-projects in the process of acceptance, in order to ensure the overall quality of steel structure engineering.

On March 30th, 2019 (10th) China Steel Development Forum was held in Beijing. The theme of the forum was “Quality, Brand, Management and Innovation of Steel Enterprises”. Liu Zhenjiang, secretary of the Party Committee and Secretary General of China Iron and Steel Association, attended the forum and pointed out in his speech that "the situation in 2019 is more complicated than that in 2018. From the first quarter of the steel industry, downward pressure has emerged, not optimistic, there must be urgency. Consciousness, there is no need to be pessimistic. The downward pressure on corporate efficiency is increasing, and the pressure on the operation of the industry is naturally increasing. We are not expecting such a high efficiency this year, and we are not willing to be in trouble again. Stable operation has become a top priority. We must control the pace of production, strengthen industry self-discipline, pay attention to market changes, strengthen market monitoring and pre-judgment, and attach importance to benefit analysis." Yin Ruiyu, former deputy director of the Ministry of Metallurgy and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, talked about the high-quality strategic thinking of the steel industry from the perspective of brand. He believes that the strategic orientation of China's steel industry transformation and upgrading is to become an irreplaceable basic raw material industry for the development of the times; to become an indispensable supporting industry for China's economic and social development; to become a low-carbon coexistence with society, cities and ecological environment. Green industry. Yin Ruiqi pointed out that branding is an important strategic fulcrum for instigating the transformation and upgrading of the steel industry. It is recommended to promote branding by managing “management” technology. Gao Xiangming, president of China Iron and Steel Association, secretary of the party committee and chairman of Taigang Group, shared the practice of Taigang to build high-quality stainless steel products at the meeting: adhere to the strategy to lead development, deep focus and implement stainless steel development strategy, and build a global stainless steel industry leader Enterprises; adhere to innovation-driven development, promote the transformation of science and technology innovation from chasing, running to leading, to create a leading edge in stainless steel technology; adhere to high standards to establish enterprises, leading the industry's technological development and upgrading of stainless steel standards, to create high-quality stainless steel products Play a market-oriented role, closely track downstream demand, deepen technical services, and build a core base for high-end specialty stainless steel production. Li Xin, vice president of China Iron and Steel Association and president of the Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute, made a concluding speech. About 500 people from all levels of government departments, research institutes, steel companies, and related upstream and downstream enterprises attended the conference.

Entering the spring of March, the global steel market continued to push up the trend under the guidance of Asia and its Chinese market. As of March 8, the steel house's global steel benchmark price index of 116.5 points rose by 0.2% on a week-on-week basis (increase in the increase), up 1.3% month-on-month (same as before), down 6.3% month-on-month (decreased) It fell by 6.3% year-on-year (the decline was widening). Among them: the flat steel index was 108 points, up 0.3% on a week-on-week basis (the increase was expanded); the long product index was 125.5 points, up 0.2% on a week-on-week basis (the increase was expanded); the Asian index was 117.8 points, up 0.6% on a week-on-week basis (from flat to higher) . The China index in Asia was 120.1 points, up 0.6% on a week-on-week basis (the increase was wide); the Americas index was 139.9 points, which was flat on a week-on-week basis; the European index was 98.6 points, down 0.4% on a week-on-week basis (from ups and downs). Combined with the fundamentals forecast, the international steel market in the second half of March may continue to pick up slowly. US steel capacity utilization has reached a new high in a decade. As of March 2 this week, the steel production in the Great Lakes region of the United States rose to 717,000 tons, an increase of 4.98% over the previous week, while the steel capacity utilization rate rose to the highest value in more than 10 years. The data shows that most of the steel in the Great Lakes region is produced near the south shore of Lake Michigan and near Porter County, which account for half of the US blast furnace capacity. India has become the fastest growing market for stainless steel in the world. The Indian Stainless Steel Development Association recently stated that India has adopted global infrastructure standards to promote the use of stainless steel in construction and infrastructure. It is estimated that the total demand for stainless steel in the whole year will be about 3.6 million tons, making it the fastest growing market for stainless steel in the world. The London Metal Exchange launched a hot rolled coil futures contract. On March 11, the London Metal Exchange launched seven new cash-settled futures contracts, including hot-rolled coils, alumina and metallic cobalt, to attract more business and improve the downside of falling profits. Asian steel market: continue to rise. The steel benchmark price index of steel house in the region of 117.8 points increased by 0.6% on a week-on-week basis (increase in the increase), and the month-on-month increase was 1.4% (the increase was converging), and the month-on-year decline was 9.1% (the decline was convergent), down 10.9% year-on-year. In terms of flat products: market prices continue to rise. In South Korea, Hyundai Steel recently raised its May heat roll cost plus freight rate (CFR) to $600/ton. Modern sources said that in March and April this year, steel mills have been raising their offers due to the increase in global steel demand after the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday. In addition, steel mills should also raise their product prices after the collapse of Brazilian mines caused the cost of raw materials such as iron ore to soar. In India, some insiders said that steel prices may have a rare third increase this month, perhaps on March 1, with an increase of about Rs 1,000/ton, which will achieve the total price of Indian steel in the last 30 days. The increase will reach Rs 2,750/ton, and the hot rolled steel price has risen to Rs 44,200/t after the latest round of price adjustment. Some industry officials said that such price increases are rare and have not occurred in the past eight years. Especially after India and global steel prices have weakened for three consecutive months, steel prices have recently ushered in a new round of rise, which is not easy. In addition, the Bank of India’s bankruptcy court approved on March 8 that global steel giant ArcelorMittal acquired debt-ridden Aisha Steel, which will likely end months of court battles, marking the Indian steel industry’s investment abroad. Officially open. Almost at the same time, JSW Steel and Deco International Trading Holdings signed a steel trade financing contract for a five-year prepayment and supply agreement. This will be the largest trade finance agreement for the Indian steel industry and will also facilitate the development of JSW Steel's expansion projects. In Japan, hot coil export prices were $530/tonne (FOB) and cold rolled coils were $610/tonne (FOB), both up $10/ton from the end of last month. The galvanized sheet rolls are $780/tonne (FOB) and the plate is $580/tonne (FOB), which is the same as before. As of March 11, the average export price of China's SS400 3-12mm hot rolled coil was 540 US dollars / ton (FOB), up 15 US dollars / ton from the beginning of the month. The average export price of SPCC 1.0mm cold-rolled coils was US$570/ton, and then increased by US$10/ton. DX51D+Z 1.0mm galvanized coil exports $ 610 / ton (FOB), up $ 30 / ton. In the same period, the ASEAN hot coil import price was 549 US dollars / ton (CFR), up 8 yuan. In terms of long products: the market price has risen steadily. In Singapore, the price of rebar imports to Singapore remained generally stable. As of March 11, the reference price for the CFR import of rebar in the Southeast Asia region, which is mainly sold to Singapore resources, is still at $495-510/ton, unchanged from the end of last month. According to downstream buyers, most of the current quotes are at $510-515/tonne (CFR Singapore). Most resources come from Malaysia, Qatar and Turkey. Among them, the wire CFR quoted by Malaysian Union Steel to Singapore is US$510-520/ton. It is reported that Singapore buyers hope that the rebar CFR transaction price can be less than 500 US dollars / ton, 470-480 US dollars / ton offer or more to stimulate buyers' interest. Some traders said that most of the quotations in the Southeast Asian market came from China, but due to the bullish Chinese domestic market, Chinese exporters have recently increased their wire export offers. At present, the actual bargaining range of wire rods is generally in the range of 540-545 US dollars / ton (CFR Philippines), the seller's wire price range is 550-560 US dollars / ton (CFR Philippines). As of the 11th, the reference price of imported CFR for Southeast Asian wire rods (mainly from China for low-carbon nets sold to the Philippines and Vietnam) was US$530/ton, which remained generally stable. In Taiwan, the price of rebar in Fengxing Steel is NT$17,400/ton, and the price of profile is NT$19,900-20,100/ton, which is in line with the scrap price. At the beginning of March, the average export price of China's HRB400 20mm rebar was 520 US dollars / ton (FOB), up 10 US dollars / ton. In terms of trade relations: (1) On March 8, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Malaysia announced on March 8 that Malaysia has added 2.66-16.13 to imported hot-dip galvanized sheet and coil from China and Vietnam. Anti-dumping duties ranging from %. The government department also stated that the above anti-dumping duties are for a period of five years, valid from March 8, 2019 to March 7, 2024; (2) The Australian Anti-Dumping Committee issued Circular No. 2019/26, stating that its domestic enterprise Galintel PtyLtd Application for an anti-dumping investigation on imported SolidBaseAngle products from China. The dumping investigation period of this case is the whole year of 2018, and the damage investigation period begins on January 1, 2015. According to the investigation procedure announced by the Australian side, stakeholders should submit relevant materials by April 4, 2019. The Australian Anti-Dumping Committee is expected to make a preliminary ruling 60 days after the filing of the case and a final ruling on June 17. Short test: Based on the fundamentals of the Asian and Chinese markets, it is predicted that the Asian steel market will continue to rise slightly in the near future.

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SHAKER MAKERS Steel deal will create 300 new jobs as Britain’s manufacturers hit a three year production high   BRITAIN’S manufacturers hit a three-year production high last month — as a steel deal was confirmed which will create 300 jobs. The sector, in particular steel, has suffered in recent years. ALAMY 3 The Steel factory has suffered in recent years But yesterday’s upbeat new is a huge positive for the wider economy. The monthly Purchasing Managers’ Index for manufacturing registered a score of 57.3 last month. A figure above 50 indicates growth. It was way above the predicted figure of 54 and March’s score of 54.2. Connor Campbell, financial analyst at SPREADEX, called the figures “strong” and a “surprise”, adding they “made a mockery of analysts’ predictions of another weak month”. GETTY IMAGES 3 Liberty House completed its £100million purchase of TATA’s Speciality Steels arm Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS MARKIT added: “This is a serious upward surprise — even allowing for the fact it is the manufacturing sector that has recently been showing the most life in the UK economy, helped by a competitive Pound and decent global growth.” The figures give hope for the wider economy, after growth for the first three months of the year slumped to just 0.3 per cent, according to official Government figures released last week. Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX CAPITAL, hailed “a very strong set of manufacturing numbers” which “re­affirmed the UK economy’s resilience in the face of Brexit”.

          EU ups import tariffs on China steel   While China is trying to define its future trade relations with the US, it's been delivered a broadside from the European Commission. Brussels announced it had raised duties on Chinese steel imports.   The EU executive said Thursday it had set anti-dumping duties on imports of hot-rolled flat steel products from China at a higher rate than the preliminary tariffs already in place. The European Commission explained it had set final duties of between 18.1 percent and 35.9 percent for five years for producers including Bengang Steel Plates, Handan Iron & Steel and Hesteel. This compared with provisional rates in place of 13.2 to 22.6 percent, following a complaint by EU producers ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel and ThyssenKrupp. A lot at stake   China is the world's top producer and consumer of steel. It announced early last year it would shut as much as 150 million tons of annual production capacity over the next five years, but capacity actually rose in 2016. The Commission insisted the higher duties were meant to shield EU steel makers from the effects of Chinese dumping. China's Ministry of Commerce said it was highly concerned by the decision and urged Brussels "to correct its mistake," adding it would take necessary measures to protect its companies. The European Commission said Thursday it had decided not to impose provisional duties on the same product from Brazil, Iran, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine, noting that investigations related to imports from these nations would continue for another six months.  

China’s steel output is one of the key indicators Australian investors look at each month to assess how our biggest export market is travelling. For much of 2016 the steel sector saw rising output, even as millions of tonnes of out dated capacity was closed. The first two months of 2017 saw more of the same with output up 5.8% to 128.77 million tonnes, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). (The NBS provides information for January and February together to smooth the impact of the Lunar New Year holiday, and did not give a separate monthly breakdown). January production totalled 67.2 million tonnes and was up 7.4% from a year earlier when the Lunar New Year fell in that month. That means production last month was 61.5 million tonnes. Steel output gained this year as the shutting of excess steel production has pushed up prices for lower-quality rebar, used mainly in construction. As a result rebar futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange are up 23% so far in 2017 - they were up 18.5% a week ago, so the surge goes on, forcing even the most modern steel mills to boost production of the essential building material in housing, apartment and infrastructure construction. China plans to cuts 50 million tonnes of capacity this year after cutting perhaps 35 to 40 million tonnes last year. China produced 808.4 million tonnes of crude steel output in 2016, up 1.2%, which was much higher than many western and Chinese analysts had forecast. Trade data last week showed that China’s iron ore imports rose to 83.49 million tonnes in February, up 13% from a year ago, but down 7% from the 92 million tones reported for January. Total imports for the first two months of the year rose 12.6% to 175.3 million tonnes from a year ago, the highest ever for the first two months of the year. Analysts wonder if this rapid start to the year means there will be a slowdown in import volumes as the year progresses. At the same time Chinese steel exports fell to a three-year low in February, as steelmakers in the world’s top producer shifted to meeting rising demand at home. Shipments for the month were 5.75 million tonnes, the lowest since February 2014, data from the country’s Customs showed.That was down 29.1% from a year ago and down 22.5% from January. Overall, China’s factory output rose 6.3% in January-February from the same period a year earlier, while fixed-asset investment grew 8.9%, both better than expected. Analysts had predicted factory output would grow 6.2% in the first two months this year, picking up from December’s 6.0% as demand for manufactured goods improves at home and abroad. Analysts had expected fixed-asset investment growth of 8.3% up from the weak 8.1% in the whole of 2016. Growth of private investment quickened to 6.7% from 3.2% last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics said, suggesting an improved demand private firms to invest after a sharp loss of momentum in the last few years. Retail sales growth was well below expectations, however. Retail sales rose 9.5% in January-February from a year earlier. Analysts had forecasted they would rise 10.6%, easing from December. China is targeting growth of around 9% in fixed asset investment for 2017, while retail sales were expected to increase about 10%. China has cut its economic growth target to about 6.5% this year after growing 6.7% in 2016, the slowest pace in 26 years. Some economists speculate that March quarter growth could be around 6.7% or a bit higher, even 7%, especially with the warmer weather and sharp fall in consumer price inflation last month because of a surplus of spring vegetables. That helped push retail sales growth lower. Elsewhere, China’s car fell in the first two months of the year, according to government data. That was due to the ending of government tax relief for buyers of small cars. The country reported its first trade deficit since 2014 in February because of the timing of the new year holiday.

Asia: Five US steel trade associations have released a report documenting how the steel industry in China 'is heavily subsidised by its government' and alleging its rapid growth has been fuelled 'by government subsidies and other market-distorting policies', including raw material price controls. The report from the American Iron and Steel Institute, the Steel Manufacturers Association, the Committee on Pipe and Tube Imports, the Specialty Steel Industry of North America and the American Institute of Steel Construction states: ‘The Chinese government has supported the country’s steel industry primarily through cash grants, equity infusions, government-mandated mergers and acquisitions, preferential loans and directed credit, land use subsidies, subsidies for utilities, raw material price controls, tax policies and benefits, currency policies, and lax enforcement of environmental regulation.’ The report analyses 25 of the largest steel companies in China and looks to detail the amount and types of government subsidies received in recent years. ‘These subsidies and policies have led to tremendous overcapacity and created a highly-fragmented domestic steel sector in China made up of many inefficient, and heavily polluting, companies,’ it is contended. According to the five US associations, this analysis supports the view that China should not be granted market economy status in December. Furthermore, its findings will be used to ‘further advance the global dialogue among nations on the elimination of excess steel capacity throughout the world’, they add.

When it comes to providing stimulus to meet growth targets, you can’t bet against China. But when it comes to cutting output, things can get obscure… literally.   A new report by Greenpeace East Asia and Chinese consultancy Custeel says that despite China’s high-profile efforts to tackle overcapacity, China’s operating steel capacity increased in 2016. The report states that 73% of the announced cuts in capacity were already idle — in other words the plants were not operating. Only 23 million metric tons of cut capacity involved shutting down production plants that were operating.   Meanwhile, some 49 mmt of capacity that had previously been suspended was restarted, and 12 mmt of new operating capacity came online. That means that China added 37 million metric tons additional operating capacity in 2016.   After falling in 2015, Chinese crude steel output is now rising again at a healthy clip — it was up 4% on the year in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, hot-rolled coil prices in China rose near 70% for the year. Despite resilient output, demand growth has been much more significant. As a result, Chinese steel exports have fallen double digits for four consecutive months. Can Just Promises Sustain Rising Prices? Sentiment in the steel industry is also bullish thanks to expectations of lower output this year. In January, China unleashed its boldest reform plan so far for its bloated steel sector, saying it will eliminate all production of low-quality steel products by the end of June.   Eliminating excess steel capacity and restructuring the industry has enormous environmental significance because the steel industry is the second-largest emitter of air pollution in China. This is another reason to believe Beijing will strengthen its supply-side reforms this year.   However, according to the report most of the capacity elimination target set for the 2016-2020 period has, technically, already been achieved in 2016, meaning that capacity elimination in 2017-2020 will be much more modest unless targets are increased. Meanwhile, a 21 mmt capacity increase is still in the pipeline from new projects, and there is at least 42 mmt of existing idle capacity that could be used to fulfill the capacity elimination targets.   Two-Month Trial: Metal Buying Outlook   These numbers give us reasons to doubt on what China can deliver this year. China is now under pressure to demonstrate progress on capacity cuts. But financial and legal incentives to keep marginal firms running will cause regulators to struggle to enforce capacity cuts. Chinese steel mills are so hard to get rid of as they are often a key source of local tax revenue and employment. What This Means For Metal Buyers The sustainability of the ongoing rising trend in steel prices will much depend on China. Buyers will need to keep a close eye on how much growth can China deliver and how much of the promised production cuts will actually materialize this year. The problem is that growth without controlling steel out will only translate into severe air pollution. .  

3 Reasons Why Steel Prices Will Rise Well Into 2017 We are republishing our best-read posts of 2016 during the holidays as we look forward to 2016. This is the most-recent of our Best-of-MetalMiner posts, having only been published a few weeks ago on November 15. It continues the trend of highlighting the predictions of our lead forecasting analyst, Raul de Frutos. — Jeff Yoders, editor Since their peak in the summer, domestic prices of flat steel products have fallen in the range of 20-30%. However, we have some reasons to believe U.S. steel prices are set to rebound: Trump Wins: Investors Bet On Steel Companies What changes in the steel industry Donald Trump will make are still unknown. What’s clear is that the new president-elect made trade, manufacturing and the steel industry a cornerstone of his agenda. MetalMiner Price Benchmarking: Current and Historical Prices for the Metals You Buy Stocks of American steel companies soared last week as investors hope that a Trump-led government will boost domestic infrastructure, which could be a boom for steel demand. In addition he has stated he would institute more measures to protect domestic steel producers. Dow Jones U.S. Steel Index hits a two-year high. Source:MetalMiner analysis of @stockcharts.com data. A good benchmark for steel prices is the Dow Jones US Steel Index, which tracks major steel producers around the globe. Following the election, the index rose sharply to the highest levels in two years. The stocks of US steel companies are linked to domestic steel prices. This powerful price increase hints to a rebound in steel prices.