On July 3, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the operating data of the steel industry from January to May 2020. Data show that my country’s steel industry gradually got rid of the impact of the epidemic from January to May, production and sales basically returned to normal, and the overall situation remained stable. Affected by the double squeeze of falling steel prices and rising prices of imported iron ore, economic benefits of the entire industry experienced a major decline.
First, output remains high. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. On May, national production of pig iron, crude steel, and steel products were 77.32 million tons, 92.27 million tons, and 11.453 million tons, up 2.4%, 4.2%, and 6.2% year-on-year. From January to May, the national production of pig iron, crude steel and steel products was 360 million tons, 410 million tons and 490 million tons, up 1.5%, 1.9% and 1.2% year-on-year respectively.
Second, steel prices continue to fall. In May, the average value of China’s steel price index was 99.8 points, down 10.8% year-on-year. From January to May, the average value of China’s steel price index was 100.3 points, a year-on-year decrease of 8.3%, an increase of 2.6 percentage points from the first quarter.
Third, steel inventories continued to decline. According to the statistics of China Iron and Steel Association. At the end of May, the key statistics of steel stocks of steel enterprises were 13.28 million tons, a decrease of 8.13 million tons from the peak of inventory in early March, a decrease of 38.0%. The social stocks of 5 major varieties of steel in 20 cities were 13.12 million tons, a decrease of 7.09 million tons from the peak of stocks in early March, a decrease of 35.1%.
Fourth, the export situation is still grim. According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs.On May, the cumulative export of steel products nationwide was 4.401 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 23.4%; the import of steel products was 1.280 million tons, an increase of 30.3% year-on-year. From January to May, the cumulative export of steel products was 25.002 million tons, down 14.0% year-on-year; the import of steel products was 5.464 million tons, up 12.0% year-on-year.
Fifth, iron ore prices continue to rise. On May, the average value of China’s iron ore price composite index was 335.6 points, an increase of 8.6% month-on-month; the average value of imported iron ore price index was 339.0 points, an increase of 10.1% month-on-month. From January to May, the average value of China’s iron ore price composite index was 325.2 points, an increase of 4.3% year-on-year; the average value of imported iron ore price index was 326.3 points, an increase of 2.0% year-on-year.
Sixth, the economic benefits fell sharply. According to the National Bureau of Statistics. On May, the operating income of ferrous metallurgy and rolling processing industry was 604.65 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 0.9%; the realized profit was 18.70 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 50.6%. From January to May, the operating income of ferrous metallurgy and rolling processing industry was 2,546.95 billion RMB, down 6.0% year-on-year; the total profit was 49.33 billion RMB, down 57.2% year-on-year.
Seventh, the ferrous metal mining industry is unique. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to May, the operating income of the ferrous metal mining industry was 135.91 billion RMB, an increase of 1.0% year-on-year; the total profit was 10.18 billion RMB, an increase of 20.9% year-on-year, an increase of 68.7 percentage points from the first quarter.