At least six Chinese large and midsize steel companies have released their operating targets for 2009 by last Tuesday with most looking forward unchanged output or a moderate rise over 2008.

 

Jiangsu Shagang Group has plans to produce 23 million tonnes of steel and achieve sales income of CNY 120 billion and pretax profit of CNY 8.8 billion in 2009. The company produced 21.37 million tons of steel in the January to November of 2008. Its sales income and pretax profit are predicted to surpass CNY 140 billion and CNY 15 billion respectively, for the whole year of 2008.

 

The state owned Maanshan Steel Company set the 2009 focus on product quality and internal management instead of production expansion. It aims to produce 15 million tonnes of steel, 14.18 million tonnes of steel products for the coming year compared to the expected 15 million tonnes of steel and 14 million tonnes of steel products in 2008.

 

Hebei Iron & Steel Group made a bigger step to adjust up production goal by 24% to 30% over 2008. The company plans to produce 38 million tonnes of pig iron, 41 million tonnes of crude steel and 39.1 million tonnes of steel products, while its 2008 output of pig iron, crude steel and steel products is projected to reach 30.1 million, 33 million and 30 million tonnes respectively. The company's reshuffle in the middle of 2008 and newly installed equipment have helped raise its production capacity.

 

According to Mr Qi Xiangdong vice GS of China Iron and Steel Association, China's steel industry will shift its development theme from production expansion to structural adjustment in the future.

 

China's steel output still holds firm for 2009 compared to global output. A report by Credit Suisse predicted the global steel output to decrease by at least 10% in 2009. China's crude steel output is expected to fall 4.5% to about 470 million tonnes in 2009.

 

(www.chinamining.org)

 

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