Steel industry in China

The Steel industry in China has developed over several decades into the world biggest.China accounted for over 50% of world steel production in 2013.It has been driven by rapid modernisation of its economy, construction, infrastructure and manufacturing industries

China was the top exporter of steel in the world in 2008. Export volumes in 2008 were 59.23 million tons, a 5.5% fall over the previous year.The decline ended China's decade-old steel export growth. As of 2012 steel exports faced widespread anti-dumping taxes and had not returned to pre-2008 levels. Domestic demand remained strong, particularly in the developing west where steel production in Xinjiang was expanding.

On 26 April 2012 a warning was issued by China's bank regulator to use caution with respect to lending money to steel companies who, as profits from the manufacture and sale of steel have fallen, have sometimes used borrowed money for speculative purposes. According to the China Iron and Steel Association the Chinese steel industry lost 1 billion Rmb in the first quarter of 2012, its first loss since 2000.
As of 2015 the global steel market was weak with both Ukraine and Russia attempting to export large amounts of steel. Weak domestic demand in 2014 resulted in record exports of 100 million metric tons of steel by the Chinese steel industry.

Efforts by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection under the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution has resulted in pressure on steel mills in Linyi and Chengde to employ environmental protection measures on pain of being closed down.

In the context of lowered demand (see also 2015–16 Chinese stock market crash), in 2016 the Chinese state announced large scale closures and redundancies in heavy and primary industries, many of which were functioning as zombie companys, with 1.8 million redundancies (15% of workforce) in the coal and steel industries planned to take place by 2020.