Jiang Wei, Vice President of China Steel Association: Adhere to the principle of "Three Determinations and Three Don'ts" in the downward range of the industry

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From April 21 to 23, the 19th Steel Industry Development Strategy Conference was held in Shanghai. Jiang Wei, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Vice President and Secretary General of China Iron and Steel Industry Association, introduced the current situation of the steel industry and put forward suggestions for the future development of the industry.

From the basic situation of the iron and steel industry, he introduced that the demand side is stabilizing and recovering, and the overall industry situation has stabilized and recovered since August 2022, but the recovery trend is not firm, and downward pressure is large. The downward pressure of the industry is mainly due to the large elasticity of output at the supply side and the amplification of output, which supports the price of upstream raw materials and inhibits the price of downstream steel mills. There is an urgent need to unify ideas in the industry, especially key enterprises, to ensure that the inventory of steel plants in the second quarter returns to the normal level of previous years.

"On the whole, there is still no obvious upward trend of recovery in real estate, and there is no power for the sharp increase in steel demand. The auto industry is expected to recover. The export of state-owned brand cars, the production and export of electric vehicles are worth looking forward to, and there is a big imagination space in the market of non oriented silicon steel for electric vehicles." He said that there is a large new space for steel in the new energy field. In addition, the export volume is relatively large, which is at a high historical level. We need to pay close attention to the changes in the international market.

As steel is the food of industry, he said that China's steel has cultivated China's industry at a very low price and has strong international market competitiveness, becoming a giant of the world's manufacturing industry. The investment in environmental protection, the support of the international situation for bulk commodities, and the rise of rigid costs have determined that steel prices cannot be expected to reach the once unreasonable level again.

For iron and steel enterprises, at present, it is still an important option for high-quality development to insist on improving labor efficiency, reducing costs and increasing efficiency, and improving market competitiveness. At this stage, the benefits brought by continuous improvement of production efficiency are still far greater than the risks brought by capacity expansion. When the industry goes down, we should adhere to the principle of "three determinations and three don'ts". That is to say, set production by sales, and do not turn cash into inventory; Determine production based on efficiency, and do not produce business "blood loss"; The cash shall be sold on a spot basis, and the cash shall not be turned into receivables, and the broken window effect shall not be generated. In addition, ultra-low emissions, energy conservation and consumption reduction are imperative, and the whole industry must change from concept to action.

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