Mr Lou Dingbo chairman of Special Steel Enterprise Association of China said that "One remarkable change in the stainless steel industry in China is that the advanced production capacity has acquired the leading position. In 2007, the stainless steel production capability in China reached 12 million tonnes, of which the advanced production capacity occupied 69.5%, the cold rolled stainless steel production capability was about 4.7 million tonnes, of which the advanced production capacity occupied 78.7%."
Statistics showed that in 2001, the stainless steel consumption in China exceeded 2 million tonnes, which made China the largest stainless steel consumption country. In 2007, the stainless steel consumption per capita in China reached 5 kilogram, over the average consumption per capita in the world. As a result, with the continuous increase in demand, the stainless steel production is also increasing rapidly. In 2006, the stainless steel production in China was 5.3 million tonnes, which was then the largest in the world. It reached 7.2 million tonnes in 2007, occupying 26.27% of the world total production amount, and mounting as still the largest in the world.
As the equipment level and management in stainless steel industry has been improved gradually, the general quality of the stainless steel products has also arrived at the world level. The plate sheet ratio has reached over 90% and the proportion of the low nickel ferritic stainless steel raised from 10% up to 25.52%. A great deal of new products, which are in urgent need for development of national economy, including super duplex stainless steel, have been developed and applied widely in such fields as petrochemical, power, aviation, navigation, food processing, automobile, traffic and machinery industry etc.
Some companies like TISCO and Baosteel Group have successively established the internationally advanced whole process stainless steel production line, owning world leading technical equipment with modernized macro-scale operations technology of high efficiency. Companies including TISCO, Baosteel, Zhangpu Iron and Steel Co Limited, Lianzhong Stain Steel Co Limited and Jiuquan Iron & Steel Group Company have become the supporting power in stainless steel industry of China and have made great contribution to the steady and fast development of the national economy.
Statistics showed in 2007 China smelted 1.8 million tonnes of ferritic stainless steel, with a proportion of more than 25%, 5% over that in 2006. The modern ferritic stainless steel new products jointly developed by manufacturers and scientific institutes had gone into batched production and marketing.
