The Steel Revitalization Plans in China
January 29, 2009
It is reported that the State Council has worked out the steel revitalization plans, which focus on controlling the whole volume, washing out the obsolete capacity and encouraging technical innovation and merger & acquisition to bail out the slumping domestic steel industry.
Mr Wang Yifang Board chairman of Hebei Steel Group said even though the released plan has not cover detailed regulations, it will provides timely help for the development of the steel enterprises in Hebei province, the largest steel production base in China. To the large-sized steel mills, the plan means low cost expansion.
As one of the largest steel complexes in China, Hebei Steel Group has enhanced its place in steel industry since it was founded, and became the national major supportive enterprise.
As per local steel assistance plan, total crude steel capacity would be controlled within 80 million tons by 2020. In order to realize the goal, the province has to concentrate the quality steel resources by promoting the progress of M&As. Most experts believe that the steel revitalization policy will lay a solid floor for the further development of Hebei steel industry.
According to the plan special funds will be allocated from the central budget to encourage technological advancement of the sector, readjustment of products mix and improvements of product quality
As one of the pillar industries in Hebei province, the steel industry contributes more than 25% of the provincial total industrial profits in recent years. However, it still lacks of competitiveness since most local produced products are primary one, with few high value-added and high-tech contained products.
The local government should draw some supportive policies in line with the steel revitalization plan to encourage the technologic innovation. Only in this way, can Hebei province form high quality vanadium and titanium, construction steel and slabs production lines with high value added products, and end the extensive develop pattern in local steel industry.
Source: China Steel net.com
Tags: US, product, hebeiRelated Posts:
Industrial output grows less than 2007
January 25, 2009
CHINA’S industrial output rose 12.9 percent year on year in 2008, or 5.6 percentage points less than the previous year, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.
Output climbed 5.7 percent in December, up slightly from the 5.4-percent growth rate in November. However, the December figure was 11.7 percentage points lower than a year earlier, and it was also much lower than any of the first 10 months of 2008.
Output of state-owned enterprises and shareholding companies rose 9.1 percent and 15 percent, respectively. These figures include companies with annual sales of at least 5 million yuan (US$731,283), the point at which companies in China are classified as medium to large-scale.
Output of companies funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan rose 9.9 percent.
Heavy industrial output rose 13.2 percent, while that of light industry gained 12.3 percent.
The bureau’s data showed aggregate industrial profits hit 2.4 trillion yuan in the first 11 months of last year, up 4.9 percent compared with the same period in 2007. However, the growth rate fell a sharp 31.8 percentage points from a year earlier.
Of 39 industries surveyed, 31 reported year-on-year profit growth. The five fastest growth rates were recorded by petroleum and natural gas extraction, coal mining, transport equipment manufacturing, chemical production and metals processing.
Industrial production growth slowed along with a weakening global economy, which reduced market prices as well as domestic and foreign demand, analysts said.
“Weakening demand, especially overseas, was a major cause of China’s slowdown, as more than 30 percent of GDP comes from trade-related industries,” said Tang Min, deputy secretary of the China Development Research Foundation.
He forecast the economy would begin to improve in the second or third quarter as a national 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package took effect and boosted domestic demand for industrial products.
Ma Jiantang, the bureau’s head, called the December rebound a “positive sign” for China’s industrial production.
“The growth rate of industrial output was 0.3 percentage point higher than November. Small as it is, it’s an important change in industrial activity” and could help China’s economy to rebound, he said.
Ma said 16 of the 39 industries surveyed had shown a month-on-month rise in output growth.
A survey conducted by the bureau earlier this month showed steel, coal, ferrous metal and chemical product prices began to rebound after prolonged declines during the second half of 2008, Ma said.
Tags: show, Trade, coalRelated Posts:
Indicators point to signs of recovery
January 24, 2009
SEVERAL economic indicators for December have shown signs of recovery, though China’s fourth-quarter growth slowed, said the head of the National Bureau of Statistics.
“Last December, the economy was hit quite hard by the global financial crisis, but the December figures also began to show some positive changes and these changes are very important for us,” Ma Jiantang said.
The rebound in money supply, which rose 17.8 percent, the quickest in seven months, and loan growth in December means that the moderate monetary policy has been effective, Ma said.
Retail sales jumped 17.4 percent last month in annualized terms, up from 16.6 percent in November, with a rebound in goods like cars, garments and cosmetics. Ma also pointed out that there was a pick-up in investment sentiment citing an ING report which said investor confidence in China rose to 103 in the fourth quarter from 88 in the third.
“Almost all major monthly indicators point to a recovery,” driven by rising domestic demand – a result of aggressive fiscal and monetary stimulus – and stable exports, Merrill Lynch’s economist Ting Lu said.
Crude steel production, a major indicator of industrial activities, rose to 37.79 million tons in December from 35.19 million tons in November, after China in November announced the 4-trillion-yuan (US$585 million) fiscal stimulus package to support growth.
China has raised export tax rebates by several steps to help revive exports. In December, the government increased export tax refunds on 3,770 tariff lines including mechanical and electrical products, or 27.9 percent of all exports. Exports shrank 2.2 percent in November, the first drop in seven years.
Goods that are eligible for export tax refunds saw positive export growth of 4.8 percent in December, against an overall negative growth of 2.8 percent, Ma said. “This means our export policies have started to show results,” he said.
Ma said the government would wait and see whether these positive changes are sustainable or just temporary. “But such positive changes are just like sunshine in cold winter and light at the break of a dawn, and also little sparks that can ignite a flame,” he said, adding he has confidence in China’s economy.
China’s gross domestic product growth slowed to 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter from 9.0 percent in the third as the global financial crisis deepened into domestic economy.
Tags: Import, export tax, growthRelated Posts:
China’s largest steel maker is being created
January 1, 2009
Three Chinese steel companies — Tangshan Iron and Steel Co, Handan Iron and Steel Group and Chengde Xinin Vanadium and Titanium Co — agreed on Tuesday to merge, creating the biggest listed steel maker in China.
The three Hebei-based companies were all listed companies under Hebei Iron and Steel Group. The new entity will be the only listed company of the group after the merger.
Annual production of raw steel will be about 32 million tonnes, which will be more than Baosteel’s 30 million tonnes.
Tangshan will merge with the two smaller firms through share swaps. One Handan share will be swapped for 0.775 Tangshan share and one Chengdu share for 1.089 Tangshang shares, according to the agreement.
Handan and Chengde would cease to exist as separate legal entities and their assets, debts, businesses and staff would go to Tangshan, analysts said.
Tangshan said the new company would be the only target of any asset injection by the parent company and thus the only beneficiary.
Hu Yanping, steel analyst with Umetal.com, said the merger would not increase the new company’s profitability in the short term, although its production capacity would be the largest in China.
“The move will enhance steel industry restructuring, which will cushion the blow [against the industry] as the financial crisis has hurt economic growth.”
The plan still needs shareholder and regulatory approval.
Shares of the three companies had been suspended since August 28. Trading resumed on Tuesday.
Tangshan fell by the daily limit of 10 percent to 4.10 yuan (about 58 US cents) from the previous trading day. Handan fell 8.78 percent to 3.43 yuan and Chengde fell by the daily limit to 4.95 yuan.
Tags: steel industry, China, urban parkingRelated Posts:
China to decide soon whether tolling is okay
December 30, 2008
CHINA is the world’s biggest metals consumer. Here is the news important for buying products directly or indirectly related with copper:
(XINHUA) : CHINA, the world’s biggest metals consumer, is close to deciding whether to allow tax-free imports of copper concentrate and primary aluminum for processing into export-bound products to boost industrial production.
The government should make a decision soon on whether to allow the practice, known as tolling, Wen Xianjun, vice president of China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, said yesterday.
China has been restoring tax benefits for overseas metals sales to encourage exports, which fell for the first time in seven years last month, and to boost industrial production that grew at the weakest pace in almost a decade.
“This is to help Chinese metal processors maximize capacity at a time when the global slowdown has reduced demand,” Wen told Bloomberg News. China ended tolling for some metal raw materials last year in an effort to curb expansion in the energy-intensive and polluting sector.
Raw material imports under tolling trade would be exempt from export duties and value-added tax, Wang Qinhua, head of the markets and trade department of the association, said. Exports of finished goods, which for the pending decision means refined copper and aluminum products, would still be subject to both taxes, Wang said. “Metal processors want the practice back, feeling such production isn’t energy-consuming and is often labor-intensive, which helps employment at this difficult time,” she said.
Tags: nonferrous metals industry, China, chineseRelated Posts:
