In 2010, China's economy is in a critical period of transition from recovery to good to stable development. The steel industry has maintained the upward trend since last year. The output has maintained growth, the export has increased greatly, and the enterprise benefits have improved. However, since the second half of the year, due to the uncertainties and instability of economic recovery and growth at home and abroad, the operation level of the industry has gradually declined, and the operation of the iron and steel industry has been in a high and low trend throughout the year.

I. Operation of China's Iron and Steel Industry

(1) Rapid growth momentum of crude steel production has slowed down and positive structural changes have taken place.

In 2010, China produced 626.65 million tons of crude steel, an increase of 53 million tons over the previous year, an increase of 9.3%, and a productivity utilization rate of 82%. The monthly growth rate of crude steel in the first five months was above two digits. After June, the growth rate slowed down significantly. The output + output decreased for four consecutive months, and the output increased negatively in August, September and October. The average daily output of crude steel in the whole year was 17.117 million tons, reaching the highest of 1.847 million tons in April, equivalent to 670 million tons of crude steel annually, which dropped to the lowest point of 15.98 million tons in September, and 580 million tons of crude steel annually, which was down nearly 14% from the highest in April, showing a marked decline. The apparent consumption of crude steel in 2010 was 599.35 million tons, an increase of 6.1% over the same period last year.

In terms of sub-enterprises, key large and medium-sized iron and steel enterprises account for 86.2% of the national crude steel output, which is 4.2 percentage points higher than the previous year. There are 13 enterprise groups with an annual output of 10 million tons of steel.

From the perspective of steel products, the output of sheet and strip products mainly used in manufacturing industry increased by 18.9% year on year, which is 8 percentage points higher than that of long timber mainly used in construction, and the proportion of sheet and strip products representing the industrialization process has increased significantly.

(2) The fluctuation range of steel prices has been reduced and is generally at a lower level.

Overall, steel prices are at a low level throughout the year. The price trend shows a trend of frequent shocks and narrowing amplitudes. Domestic steel prices have experienced several minor shocks along with the macroeconomic situation and steel supply and demand changes. During the year, the composite index of steel prices reached 108.7 points at the lowest level, climbed to 128.3 points at the end of the year, and rose 21.1 points throughout the year, but it is still about 20% lower than the high price before the 2008 financial crisis. Among them, long steel (including wire rod, thread, round steel, section steel) increased by 23.1% compared with the beginning of the year, and plate (including hot rolled coil, cold rolled coil, galvanized plate, medium and heavy plate) increased by 13.8%. In 2010, although steel prices fluctuated several times, the difference between the highest and lowest comprehensive price index is only 19.6 points, which is the smallest fluctuation in recent years. Generally speaking, it belongs to the normal fluctuation of the market.