Stainless Steel Industry Accelerates Transformation from Scale Expansion to Quality & Efficiency Enhancement

“Currently, China’s 不锈钢 industry is in a critical phase of shifting from scale expansion to quality improvement, with both opportunities and challenges coexisting,” stated Zhou Zhuoli, Rotating Chairman of the Stainless Steel Branch of China Iron and Steel Industry Association (CISA) and Chairman of Beigang New Materials, during her work report at the 2025 China Stainless Steel Industry Annual Conference & China Stainless Steel Industry Development Conference on November 27th. She emphasized that the industry must firmly implement the core tasks of “anti-involution, collaborative development, and stable growth,” take technological innovation as the core driving force, focus on enhancing industrial chain resilience and security, promote the industry’s transformation from scale expansion to quality and efficiency enhancement, and climb from the medium-low end to the high end of the value chain. This will gather consensus and synergy for the industry’s higher-quality and more sustainable development.

She noted that in the first three quarters of this year, the global 不锈钢 industry generally exhibited the development characteristics of “intensified regional differentiation and accelerated green transformation,” entering a new stage driven by technological innovation and sustainability rather than cost and scale. Meanwhile, domestic downstream demand has undergone significant changes: demand in emerging fields such as new energy and environmental protection equipment has grown, while growth in traditional fields like architectural decoration has slowed down. Fluctuations in nickel and chromium raw material prices and substitution by non-ferrous metals have exerted a greater impact on the industry. Facing the dual challenges of a complex and volatile international market environment and domestic structural adjustments, China’s stainless steel industry has actively expanded into new application areas amid multiple pressures, including raw material price volatility, slowing demand growth, and international trade frictions.

Positive Changes in the Stainless Steel Industry in the First Three Quarters

According to Zhou Zhuoli, under policy guidance, China’s stainless steel industry actively promoted industrial structure optimization in the first three quarters of this year, gradually shifting from scale expansion to quality improvement, with positive changes observed in output, capacity, technological innovation, green and low-carbon development, and internationalization.

1. Output & Consumption: Optimized Product Structure Adapting to Demand Changes

Output: In the first three quarters, China’s crude stainless steel output reached 30.4618 million tons, a year-on-year (YoY) increase of 4.77%; full-year output is expected to exceed 40 million tons, with a YoY growth of 3%~5%. Specifically:

• 300-series stainless steel accounted for 51.28% (up),
• 400-series dropped to 18.33%,
• 200-series fell to 29.25%,
• Duplex stainless steel rose to 1.14%.

Consumption: Apparent consumption of 不锈钢 in China reached 24.9123 million tons in the first three quarters, a YoY increase of 3.77%. Emerging fields such as new energy vehicles, hydrogen energy, and lithium batteries drove sustained demand growth, becoming new growth engines for “steel demand.” Traditional fields like architectural stainless steel pipes, high-performance stainless steel for food machinery, and marine engineering steel achieved steady recovery, showing the characteristics of “emerging fields expanding increments and traditional fields stabilizing the base.”

2. Capacity: Continuous Growth to Intensify Market Competition

By the end of 2024, China’s stainless steel capacity exceeded 50 million tons. With the expected completion and commissioning of Zhenshi Group Dongfang Special Steel’s 2.5 million-ton stainless steel project by the end of this year, domestic capacity will further expand. Against the backdrop of global overcapacity in stainless steel, domestic and international markets will witness fierce competition, putting widespread pressure on capacity utilization rates.

3. Technological Innovation: Breakthroughs in Multiple Fields

Materials: Accelerated localization of key strategic steel materials, e.g., TISCO conquered the world-class challenge of the “weight bottleneck” in N10276 nickel-based alloy.

Processes & Equipment: Accelerated intelligent and efficient upgrading, e.g., Tsingshan’s 3,500mm wide and heavy plate project adopted the world’s first integrated short-flow process of “steckel rolling – online solution annealing – online pickling”; Wuhan Qianye Engineering’s 20-high precision reversing cold rolling mill for 不锈钢 was exported to Japan for the first time; Jiuli Special Materials’ “Total Factor Integrated Intelligent Factory for Special Alloy Pipes” was selected as a national excellent-level intelligent factory project.

Applications: High-end breakthroughs and traditional substitution in downstream applications, e.g., TISCO launched the world’s first TOPS stainless steel for offshore photovoltaic brackets; China’s first 10-meter-diameter stainless steel tank prototype for heavy-lift launch vehicles was successfully developed; technical difficulties in forming and welding ultra-large special-shaped curved stainless steel components were overcome; the country’s largest cluster of stainless steel bioreactors was put into use in biopharmaceuticals.

4. Green & Low-Carbon Development: Accelerated Transformation and Improved Standards

TISCO’s first batch of 304L stainless steel medium plates achieved a carbon footprint reduction of over 75% compared with traditional processes, meeting the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) requirements and successfully entering overseas markets.

Zhenshi Group Dongfang Special Steel built the world’s first “zero-emission” intelligent stainless steel manufacturing factory powered entirely by green electricity.

Industry standards for green and low-carbon development, such as “Technical Requirements for Energy Consumption per Unit Product of Stainless Steel” and “Technical Requirements for Carbon Emissions per Unit Product of Steel Rolling Processes in the Iron and Steel Industry,” have been officially implemented.

5. Raw Materials: Easing Resource Constraints with Persistent Uncertainties

To reduce supply chain risks amid long-term high external dependence on chromium and nickel resources, China has signed long-term chrome ore supply agreements with countries like Zimbabwe; enterprises such as Tsingshan Group and Huayou Cobalt have laid out integrated nickel mining and smelting projects in Indonesia, ensuring stable domestic nickel supply as capacity is gradually released.

Volatility in molybdenum concentrate prices led to a sharp rise in ferromolybdenum prices this year, severely impacting 不锈钢 enterprises.

Domestic scrap steel stockpiles exceeded 10 billion tons, with a shifting supply structure: the proportion of scrap from traditional building demolition is declining, while industrial waste, end-of-life vehicles, and home appliances are increasing. Scrap from vehicle dismantling has exceeded 28%, becoming a key growth driver for scrap supply.

6. Internationalization: Escalating Frictions and Diversified Markets

Rising global trade protectionism—such as anti-dumping investigations by South Korea, Japan, and India, and additional tariffs imposed by the US—has significantly affected China’s direct and indirect stainless steel exports. To address trade barriers, the industry has actively explored markets along the “Belt and Road,” achieving substantial export growth to Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, etc. Enterprises have also expanded overseas capacity through base construction and projects in Indonesia and Turkey, and promoted export growth via free trade agreements.