China's annual crude steel production will set another historical record.

On October 26, the China Iron and Steel Association (hereinafter referred to as the China Iron and Steel Association) held the third quarter information conference. Qu Xiuli, vice president and secretary general of the China Steel Association, revealed at the meeting that crude steel production is expected to exceed 1 billion tons this year, an increase of 3-5% year-on-year.

This will set a new record set in 2019. In 2019, China produced 996 million tons of crude steel, an increase of 8.3% year-on-year.

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first three quarters of this year, China produced about 782 million tons of crude steel, an increase of 4.5% year-on-year.

Among them, crude steel production in the first quarter increased by 1.2% year-on-year; Growth of 1.7% in the second quarter; The growth rate in the third quarter rose sharply, reaching 10.3%.

Qu Xiuli said that in the first three quarters of this year, the downstream industry recovered rapidly, driving obvious demand growth.

"The launch of major national investment projects and the rapid recovery of downstream industries such as automobiles and home appliances have driven steel demand." Qu Xiuli said.

According to the calculation of the China Steel Association, the apparent consumption of crude steel in the first three quarters of this year was 769 million tons, an increase of 8.94% year-on-year, an increase of 1.7 percentage points over the previous August.

The increase in crude steel consumption has directly led to a substantial increase in iron ore imports, and also supported iron ore prices to remain high. Iron ore is an important raw material for blast furnace steelmaking.

China's monthly imports of iron ore in previous years were generally about 80 million tons.

According to the monitoring of the China Steel Association, as of the end of September, the average price of iron ore imported by China was 110.75 US dollars / ton, up 39.8% compared with the end of April and 31.25% year-on-year.

At the end of September, China's steel price index (CSPI) was 105.99 points, up only 9.7% from the end of April and down 0.09% year-on-year.

In the first three quarters of this year, the total profit of key steel enterprises counted by the China Iron and Steel Association was 137.5 billion yuan, down 9.46% year-on-year. The average sales profit margin of key steel enterprises was 4.05%, down 0.66 percentage points year-on-year.

The sharp decline in steel exports and the significant increase in imports are also one of the characteristics of the operation of China's steel industry in the first three quarters of this year.

According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs, China imported 15.07 million tons of steel in the first three quarters, a year-on-year increase of 72.2%; Exports of steel were 40.39 million tons, down 19.6% year-on-year.

The China Steel Association believes that this is not only the impact of shrinking demand in the international market, but also driven by strong domestic demand and relatively stable prices.

China Steel Association expects that with the phased recovery of overseas markets and the gradual narrowing of steel product price differences, China's steel imports in the fourth quarter will decrease month-on-month, steel exports have rebounded, and it is expected that the annual steel exports will decline by about 15%, and imports will increase by about 60%.

In 2019, China exported a total of 64.29 million tons of steel and imported 12.3 million tons of steel.