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The forecast from Baoshan Iron & Steel, or Baosteel, comes at a time when China, the world’s top producer of the alloy, is stepping up efforts to slash a huge overcapacity that has boosted cheap exports amid slowing demand at home.
China has promised to slash steel capacity by 45 million tonnes this year. .
Dai said Baosteel’s parent company, China’s No. 2 steel producer – the Shanghai-based Baosteel Group, would cut 12.20 million tonnes of capacity through 2018, in line with Beijing’s efforts to curb oversupply in China’s steel sector. It had previously planned to reduce 9.2 million tonnes of capacity.
Overcapacity in China’s steel sector has created trade tensions, with India, Australia and the United States imposing duties on Chinese steel exports amid allegations of dumping.
In fact, U.S. regulators have launched an investigation into complaints from United States Steel Corp that Chinese steelmakers, including Baosteel Group, stole its secrets and fixed prices.
Dai cautioned that the outcome of this probe would have a big impact on Chinese steel exports to the United States.
The listed unit, Baosteel, expects to ship out more than 3.4 million tonnes of steel products this year. The company recently reported higher profits for the six months to June, aided by cost-cutting measures.
Baosteel has previously said it was restructuring, together with Wuhan Steel, amid wide expectations the two firms will be merged.
Dai declined to disclose the latest progress, but said China’s steel sector would require mergers and acquisitions to increase the share of top mills which might take two decades.
In the short term, Dai expects steel prices to get a boost from a seasonal recovery in demand after the summer and China’s crackdown on the sector’s overcapacity.
Shanghai rebar prices fell to their lowest in almost a month on Wednesday on worries about demand, but for the year the market is still up about 43 percent.
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- [Editor:sunzhichao]
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