Japanese steel mills have resumed production of Angang Steel in late March

【China Building Materials Net】 "The products exported by Angang Group to Japan are mainly HRC (hot-rolled coils). After Japan's earthquake, steel exports have not changed significantly, but it is expected to increase significantly by the end of April." Angang Group International Economic and Trading Company (hereinafter referred to as "Anshan International Trade") Yan Dong, Minister of Iron and Steel Products Exports, said that Anshan Iron and Steel Company has not yet raised the quotation for export products. Due to the fact that Japan's post-earthquake reconstruction has not been confirmed, demand has not yet started.

After the earthquake in Japan, Chinese steel mills including Wuhan Iron & Steel (600005), Baosteel (600019), Xinyu Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. and Anshan Iron and Steel Group all stated that they will pay close attention to the damage suffered by Japanese steel mills in the earthquake and to the global steel market. Impact.

Hebei Iron and Steel (000709) Securities Department told the Morning Post reporter that Hebei Iron and Steel is currently facing the domestic market. Whether exports depend on the demand for post-disaster reconstruction in Japan. The Securities Department also revealed that due to the high standard of construction steel in Japan, it is difficult for domestic steel mills to meet construction requirements.

Behind the delay in demand is the fact that Japanese steel mills are affected by earthquakes much less than expected.

The Morning Post reporter was informed that in the earthquake in Japan, the worst hit by the earthquake to date is JFE Holdings’ Chiba Plant, Jingbin Plant with an annual output of 10 million tons of crude steel, and Sumitomo Metal Industry Co., Ltd. with an annual output of 8.3 million tons of crude steel. As well as the new Nippon Kamai Factory, which produces 60,000 tons of tires per month and wire for bridges.

As early as the end of March, JFE Holdings Chiba Plant, Keihin Plant, and Nippon Kamaishi Factory have all resumed production.

“Other steel mills have not been greatly affected. The impact of power shortage due to nuclear power plant explosions may have limited impact on production. Many steel mills use self-generating equipment to meet some of their electricity demand,” said Zhu Limin, an analyst at Shanghai Securities, in the latest report. Wrote.

On April 20, the Japan Steel Association released data: In March, crude steel production in Japan was 9.092 million tons, which was the first year in 17 months, but it was only 2.7%.

According to data provided by Zhu Limin, by the end of 2010, Japan’s steel production capacity was approximately 132.4 million tons and crude steel production was 109.6 million tons, ranking second in the world, second only to China.

Japan is also the world’s largest steel exporter. Of the 109.6 million tons of crude steel, about 60 million tons meet the domestic demand in Japan and the rest are exported. On April 18, the World Steel Association estimated that the Japanese earthquake affected 7 million to 10 million tons of annual production capacity.

In this earthquake, some steel plant equipment was not directly damaged, but some automobile manufacturers' factories were directly destroyed. The downstream users' suspension of production resulted in a reduction in the demand for steel products, which was far greater than the steel plant's capacity loss. “The Japanese steel mills are intensifying their product export or reasonable channels under the condition that their domestic market demand has been hit harder,” said Zhu Limin.

Wang Hong, deputy chairman of Xinyu Iron and Steel, told the Morning Post reporter that the steel exported by Japan is mainly high-end products. Chinese steel mills want to export a lot of high-end steel products. The threshold is still relatively high, and China’s current consumption is relatively large, or ordinary steel. For example, building steel.