China Aims To Be Largest Steel Producer

China, the world's number two producer of steel, is aiming to reach the top spot by 2015, Xinhua news agency said on Friday.

China produced 94 million tonnes of steel in 1995, further narrowing its gap with Japan, the world's largest steelmaker with output of 101.6 million tonnes last year, Xinhua said.

In 1995, China's output of pig iron was 101 million tonnes. It replaced the United States as the world's second-biggest producer of iron and steel in 1993.

'Our target is to produce 110 to 120 million tonnes of steel by 2000 and become the world's number one steel producer in the following 10 to 15 years, Xinhua quoted Liu Qi, minister of metallurgical industry, as saying. However, Liu said the domestic iron and steel industry still faced problems such as outdated technology and equipment, high consumption of energy and low productivity.

 

The variety and quality of steel products were insufficient for China's rapidly developing economy, he said. China still must rely on imports for some steel products needed by the automotive, petroleum, power and chemical industries.

China's iron and steel industry plans major technical renovations over the next five years and hopes to build up at least six large, modern iron and steel companies that are up to international standards, Liu said.

Output of cold-rolled steel, which had long been in short supply on the domestic market, rose to 3.73 million tonnes in 1995, up 68 per cent from 2.22 million tonnes in 1990, Xinhua said.

In 1995, China exported $5 billion worth of metallurgical products, mostly steel and steel products, it added.

From 1990 to 1995 China's iron and steel sector imported $4.03 billion worth of technology and equipment, of which $2.5 billion was in the form of foreign loans and accounted for 13.23 per cent of total investment in the iron and steel sector in the period.