CRU: Tsingshan Group - The World's Largest Stainless Steel Producer Just got Bigger

LONDON, September 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Tsingshan Group recently began shipping stainless slab from its newly-commissioned fully-integrated plant in Indonesia. In order to accommodate the ramp up in Indonesia, Tsingshan is reducing its stainless steel output at its Chinese plants by converting some of its mainland capacity to carbon steel production.

     (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/536199/CRU_Logo.jpg )

These developments raise questions about both the company's strategy and the future interplay between Indonesian and Chinese stainless steel production. Tsingshan could have the capacity to produce almost 10 Mt/y of stainless steel before the end of 2019, which would make it capable of supplying almost 20% global demand. That scale, plus the ability to shift production between Indonesian and Chinese production bases depending on the relative strength of domestic Chinese and export markets for stainless steel, enhances Tsingshan's competitiveness.

Which plants are likely to switch to carbon steel?
Guangqing Metal Technology (Guangqing) began switching from stainless to carbon steel output back in June. The plant's No.2 meltshop-one of two 1mtpy facilities at the site-ceased making 200-series stainless steel and moved entirely to carbon steel production. By mid-August, some of Guangqing's No.1 meltshop capacity was switched from 300-series stainless to carbon steel production. This means that six of Guangqing's eight AOD furnaces are producing carbon steel-we expect the plant's stainless steel output to fall by around 30-40% m/m in August, before dropping lower still in September.

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/Largest-stainless-steel-producer

Read more about CRU: http://bit.ly/About_CRU

About CRU
CRU offers unrivalled business intelligence on the global metals, mining and fertilizer industries through market analysis, price assessments, consultancy and events.

Since our foundation in 1969, we have consistently invested in primary research and robust methodologies, and developed expert teams in key locations worldwide, including in hard-to-reach markets such as China. CRU employs over 250 experts and has more than 10 offices around the world, in Europe, the Americas, China, Asia and Australia - our office in Beijing opened in 2004.

When facing critical business decisions, you can rely on this first-hand knowledge to give you a complete view on a commodity market. And you can engage with our experts directly, for the full picture and a personalised response.

CRU - big enough to deliver a high quality service, small enough to care about all of our customers.

SOURCE CRU