On January 14, the China Iron and Steel Association's 2019 director (expansion) meeting was held in Beijing Guoyi Hotel. At the meeting, Yu Yong, president of China Iron and Steel Association and secretary of the party committee of Hegang Group, made a speech entitled “Deeply promoting supply-side structural reforms to improve the quality and efficiency of the operation of the steel industry”, on the operation of the steel industry in 2018 and 2019. The situation and tasks faced in the year were detailed.

Yu Yong said that in the past 2018, China's economy has maintained a steady and good development trend. Economic growth is in a reasonable range, and supply-side structural reforms have been further advanced, and the effects have gradually emerged. As the forerunner of the supply-side structural reform, the iron and steel industry earnestly implemented the decision-making arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and completed the five-year target of dissolving the excess capacity of 100 million tons to 150 million tons. The market environment has improved markedly, the contradiction of serious overcapacity has been effectively alleviated, high-quality production capacity has been brought into play, and corporate profits have improved significantly.

Yu Yong pointed out in his speech that in 2018, the operation of the steel industry has achieved a steady and good development trend, but it has changed steadily and has become worrying.

Steel production and demand are basically balanced. In 2018, steel demand was basically stable, basically achieving a balance between production and demand. In 2018, steel demand was basically stable, basically achieving a balance between production and demand. In the first 11 months, the nation's symbiosis produced iron, crude steel and steel (including duplicate materials) of 708 million tons, 857 million tons and 1.013 billion tons respectively, up 2.44%, 6.73% and 8.30% respectively.

Steel prices are relatively stable. The steel price index for the first 11 months averaged 116.52 points, up 9.86% year-on-year. At the end of the year, the rapid decline in steel prices was due to various factors, such as weakening demand, production growth, trade protection and the imbalance of the implementation standards of environmental protection and production restriction policies. However, the main reason was market expectations, which was not optimistic about the market outlook and weak market confidence.

The imported iron ore market is running smoothly. In the first 11 months, the country imported a total of 978 million tons of iron ore, down 1.30% year-on-year; the amount reached US$70.9 billion, down 2.80% year-on-year. The stable price of minerals has a stable effect on the efficiency of steel mills. The efficiency of steel companies continued to improve. In the first 11 months, member steel enterprises realized sales income of 3.76 trillion yuan, up 14.17% year-on-year; realized profits and taxes of 414.9 billion yuan, up 50.14% year-on-year; realized total profit of 280.2 billion yuan, up 63.54% year-on-year, for profit growth in the industrial sector Made a contribution.

Steel exports are reduced and the structure is optimized. In the first 11 months, the country exported 63.78 million tons of steel, down 8.60% year-on-year; imported steel 12.16 million tons, up 0.50% year-on-year; the import and export offsets the crude steel net export of 53.77 million tons, down 6.29 million tons.

The level of energy conservation and environmental protection has increased significantly. In the first 11 months, the total amount of wastewater discharged from member steel enterprises decreased by 5.17% year-on-year, the emission of sulfur dioxide from the outside of the company decreased by 12.32%, the smoke and dust decreased by 9.24%, the industrial dust decreased by 7.88%, and the new consumption of steel consumption decreased by 4.65%. The comprehensive energy consumption of steel decreased by 2.60% year-on-year. Enterprises attach great importance to environmental protection, and many enterprises are striving for ultra-low emissions.

Yu Yong said: In 2018, the industry's operation achieved steady and good performance, which was the result of hard work in the whole industry. It also benefited from the wise decision of the Party Central Committee and the State Council to resolutely promote supply-side structural reforms, benefiting from the relevant ministries and local governments. It is strictly forbidden to increase production capacity and prevent the resolute implementation of various measures for the resurgence of “strip steel”.