New Advances in China's Export of Steel Metallurgy Equipment Technology

The Belt and Road Initiative will provide significant development opportunities for China's steel enterprises as they "go global." With the rapid growth of China's national economy, as well as its thriving steel and machinery industries, our country has made remarkable progress in areas such as steel plant design, equipment manufacturing, construction, and production technologies. As a result, China now boasts a strong foundation for exporting steel metallurgy equipment technology—and has even achieved several notable breakthroughs. However, challenges remain, including a lack of innovation (with few domestically developed equipment or technologies), certain technological gaps (such as stronger performance in blast furnaces, coke ovens, sintering, and pelletizing, but weaker capabilities in large-scale steelmaking and rolling equipment), and management issues (like intense internal competition among domestic companies bidding on overseas projects, leading to considerable inefficiencies and internal friction). These challenges call for continuous improvement and refinement.

In recent years, the advancements made in China's steel metallurgy equipment technology have primarily focused on the following six areas.

From exporting complete sets of equipment technology developed by small and medium-sized steel enterprises, it has evolved to now exporting complete sets of equipment technology for large and medium-sized steel enterprises.

Key cases:

The Vietnam Ha Tinh Steel Plant is a joint venture established by Taiwan's Formosa Plastics Group of China, Japan's JFE Steel Corporation, and Taiwan's China Steel Corporation. Formosa Plastics Group holds the controlling stake in the project, which is designed for an annual production capacity of 22.5 million tons and is planned to be built in two phases, divided into four distinct steps. Phase 1, Step 1, will have an annual production capacity of approximately 7 million tons. Notably, Chinese companies are taking full responsibility for the project's technical construction, with China Metallurgical Science & Industry Technology Research Institute (MCC) Sedi Co., Ltd. serving as the general contractor for key components, including the raw material yard and two 4,350 m³ blast furnaces. MCC Sedi will oversee all aspects of the project—from design and equipment supply to construction, installation, training, furnace commissioning, and ongoing production guidance. Together, these two blast furnaces are engineered to produce 6.395 million tons of molten iron annually. Meanwhile, MCC Changtian Co., Ltd. has been entrusted with the engineering work for two 500 m² sintering machines.

China Metallurgical Jiaonai Company is responsible for the engineering of four 60-cell, 7-meter coke ovens. China Metallurgical Southern Company is in charge of the engineering project for three 300-ton converter steelmaking systems. Meanwhile, the 2050mm hot continuous rolling mill for strip steel is being engineered and partially supplied with equipment by China Metallurgical Sedi Company, while the design of the billet rolling line, high-speed wire rod mill, large-diameter coil line, and wire composite mill—as well as the supply of certain equipment—is handled by China Metallurgical Jingcheng Company.

China Steel Equipment Corporation and Algeria’s Tosyali Steel Company have signed an EPC general contracting agreement for a 2.3 million-ton-per-year electric furnace-based short-process steel plant in Algeria, with the total contract value amounting to approximately US$500 million. The project’s mechanical equipment and steel structures will be manufactured in China, indirectly boosting steel exports by around 50,000 tons. The scope of the project includes a 2.3 million-ton-per-year electric furnace steelmaking facility, a 2.15 million-ton-per-year billet continuous casting workshop, as well as two separate bar production lines—each with capacities of 750,000 tons per year and 1.21 million tons per year. Additionally, the project encompasses essential supporting utilities such as lime kilns, a main step-down substation, and oxygen generation units. Notably, the 240-ton electric furnace has been entrusted to Italy’s Daccordi S.p.A. for supply, while the overall construction schedule is set at 24 months. Key construction tasks will be jointly undertaken by Chinese and Turkish companies.

India Electric Steel Ltd. (ESL)'s 2.2 million tons/year integrated steel plant, contracted to Shandong Metallurgical Design Institute as the general contractor, has now completed construction. The project encompasses sintering, ironmaking, steelmaking, rolling (bar mill), and associated utilities. The blast furnace has a capacity of 1,000 cubic meters, with construction overseen by China First Metallurgical Group.

China Metallurgical Jingcheng Company has been awarded the EPC contract for constructing the 1,800 m³ blast furnace system at Indonesia’s Krakatau Steel, encompassing facilities such as the raw material yard, sintering plant, coking plant, and the blast furnace itself. The project will enable an annual pig iron production capacity of 1.2 million tons. Additionally, the two companies have signed an EPC contract for the comprehensive renovation of Krakatau Steel’s electric arc furnace steelmaking area, which includes advanced pre-treatment processes for molten iron to remove impurities.

Starting to export large and medium-sized steel equipment production lines. Key cases:

China Metallurgical Northern Company and Mauritania’s Negoec International Mining Company have signed a turnkey EPC agreement for an iron ore beneficiation project. The first phase is designed to process 4 million tons of iron concentrate annually, with potential for future expansion to 8 million tons of iron concentrate. Meanwhile, the 198m² sintering machine at Brazil’s ArcelorMittal plant, wholly contracted by China Metallurgical Longtian Company, has been successfully put into operation, delivering an annual capacity of 2.2 million tons. Additionally, the 300m² sintering machine project—constructed by China Steel Equipment Corporation—at a Turkish steel plant has also begun production, featuring a material layer thickness of 600mm and an hourly feed rate of 500 tons.

Turkey's Igdemiy Company has placed an order with China Steel Equipment Corporation for a sintering machine capable of producing 5.2 million tons of sintered ore annually, as well as two coke ovens each designed to produce 1.3 million tons of coke per year.

Start creating premium-brand products for export to multiple countries.

The key components include blast furnace cooling staves. Baosteel’s independently designed and manufactured blast furnace cooling staves feature innovative technologies such as firebrick embedding, as well as proprietary solutions like anti-carburization and anti-drift mechanisms for the cooling tubes—technologies that have already reached internationally leading levels. Recently, all nine large blast furnaces constructed worldwide have incorporated Baosteel’s cooling staves. Preliminary statistics show that among the 12 global blast furnaces with a capacity exceeding 5,000 cubic meters, cooling staves produced by Baosteel currently account for 40%.

Blast furnace top equipment with a bell-less charging system. Designed and manufactured by Qinhuangdao QinYe Heavy Industry, this innovative equipment has not only been widely adopted in newly built large blast furnaces across China but has also been exported to South Korea’s POSCO and its Indonesian joint venture for the construction of a 3,800 m³ blast furnace, as well as to Vietnam’s Ha Tinh Steel Plant for two 4,350 m³ blast furnaces.

Blast Furnace Gas Pressure Recovery Power Generation Units. The blast furnace gas pressure recovery power generation units, designed and manufactured by Shaanxi Blower Group, have been exported for use in 5,250 m³ blast furnaces at South Korea’s Hyundai Steel Company, 4,019 m³ blast furnaces at India’s Jindal South West Steel Company, and 4,350 m³ blast furnaces at Vietnam’s Ha Tinh Steel Plant.

Qin Ye Heavy Industry has exported large-scale hot blast stove system valves to countries including Russia, India, South Korea, and the United States.

Train and mining wagon wheels manufactured by Ma'anshan Iron & Steel Company are exported to multiple countries, including Australia and Brazil.

Starting to export steel and metallurgy equipment technology to developed countries

Exporting steel and metallurgical equipment technology to developed countries involves two main scenarios: First, China independently designs and manufactures equipment—beyond the well-known products already mentioned, there’s also the 185m² sintering machine developed entirely by MCC Longyuan, which has been successfully commissioned for export to Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation’s Koyama Plant in Japan. This project was delivered on a turnkey basis, encompassing design, procurement, and construction. Additionally, MCC Jiaonai has exported advanced 6-meter-high carbonization chamber coke oven technology to Sumitomo Metal Industries in Japan. Meanwhile, MCC Jingcheng was entrusted with the design, supply, and technical services for the gas system renovation project at Pohang Gwangyang Plant’s No. 6 blast furnace (6,000 m³), featuring a state-of-the-art dry dust removal system along with an innovative high-furnace gas spray-alkali dechlorination system that has already been smoothly put into operation. Lastly, MCC Jingcheng’s newly developed FINEX 1.5 million-ton-per-year grinding mill system—with its unique self-circulating, dehydration-free design—has been successfully commissioned at Pohang. The system operates efficiently, achieving a capacity of 2 × 50 tons per year while maintaining oxygen levels consistently between 8% and 9%.

Second, we collaborate with renowned manufacturers from developed countries to export equipment to third-party nations. For instance, China First Heavy Machinery has been contracted by Italy’s Arvedi to supply the world’s first headless continuous casting and rolling line for thin steel strips—complete with eight rolling mills—while Siemens VAI serves as the general contractor for this project. Meanwhile, China Second Heavy Machinery has provided F4, F5, and F6 finishing mill stands for ArcelorMittal Poland’s 2250mm hot strip rolling mill, again under the comprehensive management of Siemens.

Engineering Consulting and Technology Export

Key case: The project involves the signing of a master planning contract between China Metallurgical Science & Industry Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd. (MCC) and India's Tata Steel for the development of a new, multi-million-ton steel base in KPO, India.

China Metallurgical Construction Jingcheng and China-Pakistan New Energy International Investment Company have signed a consulting contract for the feasibility study of the Phase I 3-million-ton steel plant project under the China-Pakistan New Energy Steel Initiative.

Chinese companies building steel plants overseas boost exports of iron and steel metallurgy equipment technology.

Key case: Shougang Group and a local Malaysian company have jointly established a new 3-million-ton-per-year integrated steel plant in Malaysia’s eastern economic special zone. Meanwhile, QingShan Group is building a nickel-iron and stainless steel plant in Indonesia, which will feature eight nickel-iron production lines along with supporting infrastructure, including two 150-megawatt coal-fired power plants capable of producing 600,000 tons of nickel-iron annually. The stainless steel plant, with an annual capacity of 3 million tons, will include a 1,780mm hot continuous rolling strip production line. QingShan has already signed a design contract with China Metallurgical Eastern Company.

Outlook

In recent years, although China has made considerable progress in exporting steel and metallurgical equipment technology, the overall scale remains small, with few large-scale devices and many small- and medium-sized ones; advanced equipment is scarce, while ordinary equipment is common; there is little independently innovated equipment and few well-known product enterprises, with mostly general products. Fundamentally, we must dare to innovate and be good at it, improve our independent design and manufacturing capabilities, and strive to create more well-known brands and enterprises. In summary, enhancing independent design and manufacturing capabilities is the fundamental way to improve the export of China's steel and metallurgical equipment technology.

Leverage the strategic opportunities presented by the Belt and Road Initiative and capitalize on Chinese enterprises' overseas investment and factory-building initiatives to expand exports of steel and metallurgical equipment technology. Currently, progress in this area remains insufficient, underscoring the need for continuous reflection on lessons learned, coupled with a proactive and ambitious approach. Especially given China's current overcapacity in steel production, it is even more critical to create favorable conditions that enable the relocation of entire steel plants overseas.

Strengthen the promotion of China's steel products and enterprises, improve the mechanisms for exporting advanced steel metallurgy equipment technologies, and ensure seamless collaboration among general contractors, design firms, manufacturers, and construction units. This will enhance coordinated management and help minimize the situation of disorganized competition among Chinese companies in overseas projects.

Further expand overseas engineering design and consulting services—including production and construction advisory services—to drive the export of steel and metallurgical equipment technology.