[Ferro-Alloys.com]

  On January 18, the National Bureau of Statistics released data showing that China's annual output of crude steel exceeded 1 billion tons for the first time.

  Specifically, in December 2020, China's pig iron output was 74.22 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%. In 2020, the annual output was 887.52 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 4.3%. In December, China's crude steel output was 91.25 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 7.7%. In 2020, the annual output was 1053 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 5.2%. In December, China's steel output was 120.34 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 12.8%. In 2020, the annual output was 132.48 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 7.7%.

  In 2020, iron and steel production was low in the beginning and high in the end. Affected by the epidemic situation in the first quarter, the demand for iron and steel obviously shrank; with the resumption of work and production in the second quarter and the gradual development of economic stimulus policies, the economy recovered steadily, and the downstream demand gradually recovered, which led to the high production of iron and steel enterprises, and the output of iron and steel further increased year on year.

  In terms of price, in 2020, the domestic steel market present a broad and upward fluctuation pattern. Among them, in the first quarter, due to the impact of the epidemic, the market went down in shock; since the second quarter, with the recovery of demand, the market went up in shock; from November to December, due to the price rise of iron ore and coke main raw materials, the market was obviously "tailed up", and the market fell down in the demand off-season. According to the monitoring data of Lange steel network, the average value of steel composite price index in 2020 was 146.5, which was 2.3% lower than that in 2019.

  Wang Guoqing, director of Lange Iron and Steel Research Center, predicted that in 2021, under the construction of "double cycle new development pattern", a new round of "expanding domestic demand" curtain will start, the equipment investment in manufacturing industry is expected to enter the upward cycle, the infrastructure and real estate investment will be basically stable, and China's steel demand will remain stable.

  Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute previously predicted that China's steel demand in 2021 will be 991 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 1.0%.

• [Editor:Catherine Ren]