Recently I read an interesting insight into the steel production capacity of China, and some commentary on the new tariffs USA have placed on imported steel. Basically, following these tariffs, the remainder of the international market (users) of Chinese steel, is now concerned they will be inundated with the steel that would have otherwise gone to USA from China. Safeguards are therefore being put in place to control imports of Chinese steel for this reason.
China is a world leader in capacity for steel production, by a very large amount. Back in 2015, China manufactured 803.3 million tonnes of crude steel. This made up over half the worlds produced crude steel (50.3%). Of this, they exported 112 million tonnes of steel to the world. To put this into scale, this was more than USA, Canada and Mexico combined output! Even for Chinese standards, this was a huge amount of exports. Since then however, China has reduced back down from this record amount, mainly due to capacity cuts and a bigger internal demand.
It's interesting to note that the Chinese 'self policed' steel closures over the last couple of years, done in an apparent push to reduce pollution under President Xi Jinping's 'blue skies,' policy, has also appeared to have removed rogue manufacturers. It seems that most of these forced closures, were in fact illegal factories to start with, producing dubious quality steel, and high pollution as well. Its reasonable to ascertain therefor, the overall standard of steel produced in China has improved over the same period.
Some questions around these significant market events are:
Is Chinese steel now more robust and about to change the international steel market permanently? Is this a good or bad thing for countries like New Zealand, Australia and a smaller degree for the pacific islands?
As a country, New Zealand has historically been quick to criticize, and essentially tarnish ALL Chinese produced steel as 'poor quality' due to some high profile projects here having been affected by what could be assumed was steel sourced from these illegal manufacturing plants that have now been closed. Is this a fair standpoint moving forward? Especially with the apparent capacity and quality improvements being demonstrated in China. Is it not inevitable that this attitude of kiwi businesses must change for us to remain competitive and have reduced local costs in construction?
When we look at the local market in China, we see immensely impressive structures being built, using state of the art construction methods, and engineering know how that would challenge any modern 'western' country. All this is being done with Chinese produced steel. Is this why USA is worried and subsequently placed the tariffs on imported steel under the guise of bringing back jobs to USA citizens (which it no doubt will achieve to some degree - but at what price)?
How do we consolidate all this information with our normal standpoint of discarding ALL Chinese steel as poor quality?
I'm interested to hear your opinion, as my company BAS Expansion Joints (NZ), supply's Expansion Joints / Bridge Bearings / Bridge Accessories that have been manufactured using steel sourced from all over the world, including China.
Marcus Beagley
Managing Director - BAS Expansion Joints (NZ)
China is a world leader in capacity for steel production, by a very large amount. Back in 2015, China manufactured 803.3 million tonnes of crude steel. This made up over half the worlds produced crude steel (50.3%). Of this, they exported 112 million tonnes of steel to the world. To put this into scale, this was more than USA, Canada and Mexico combined output! Even for Chinese standards, this was a huge amount of exports. Since then however, China has reduced back down from this record amount, mainly due to capacity cuts and a bigger internal demand.
It's interesting to note that the Chinese 'self policed' steel closures over the last couple of years, done in an apparent push to reduce pollution under President Xi Jinping's 'blue skies,' policy, has also appeared to have removed rogue manufacturers. It seems that most of these forced closures, were in fact illegal factories to start with, producing dubious quality steel, and high pollution as well. Its reasonable to ascertain therefor, the overall standard of steel produced in China has improved over the same period.
Some questions around these significant market events are:
Is Chinese steel now more robust and about to change the international steel market permanently? Is this a good or bad thing for countries like New Zealand, Australia and a smaller degree for the pacific islands?
As a country, New Zealand has historically been quick to criticize, and essentially tarnish ALL Chinese produced steel as 'poor quality' due to some high profile projects here having been affected by what could be assumed was steel sourced from these illegal manufacturing plants that have now been closed. Is this a fair standpoint moving forward? Especially with the apparent capacity and quality improvements being demonstrated in China. Is it not inevitable that this attitude of kiwi businesses must change for us to remain competitive and have reduced local costs in construction?
When we look at the local market in China, we see immensely impressive structures being built, using state of the art construction methods, and engineering know how that would challenge any modern 'western' country. All this is being done with Chinese produced steel. Is this why USA is worried and subsequently placed the tariffs on imported steel under the guise of bringing back jobs to USA citizens (which it no doubt will achieve to some degree - but at what price)?
How do we consolidate all this information with our normal standpoint of discarding ALL Chinese steel as poor quality?
I'm interested to hear your opinion, as my company BAS Expansion Joints (NZ), supply's Expansion Joints / Bridge Bearings / Bridge Accessories that have been manufactured using steel sourced from all over the world, including China.
Marcus Beagley
Managing Director - BAS Expansion Joints (NZ)
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