A Brief History of the Development of Stainless Steel in China

In 1952, Taiyuan Iron and Steel and Fushun Special Steel refined stainless steel, ending the history of China's inability to produce stainless steel

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In December 1970, Taiyuan Iron and Steel produced cold-rolled stainless steel sheets

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In September 1983, the first domestically produced 18 ton argon oxygen external refining furnace (AOD) produced the first ultra-low carbon stainless steel at Taiyuan Iron and Steel.

In December 1985, the first domestically produced 1280mm vertical stainless steel slab continuous casting machine produced the first stainless steel slab in China at Taiyuan Iron and Steel.

In October 1986, China's first cold-rolled wide strip stainless steel bright annealing line was put into operation at Taiyuan Iron and Steel Seventh Rolling Plant.

In 1992, Taiyuan Iron and Steel's stainless steel composite plate production line, stainless steel small material production line, and wide stainless steel cold-rolled plate production line were successively put into operation.

In August 1994, Taiyuan Iron and Steel's 1594mm hot rolling project and 1000 ton fast forging machine were completed and put into operation.

At the end of 1995, Shanghai Tenth Iron and Steel Plant and American Allegheny Ludm Company established China's first joint venture stainless steel precision strip production enterprise - Shanghai Shida. The first phase of the project was laid in 1997 and put into operation in 1999.

In 1996, Baosteel and Nippon Steel jointly established Ningbo Baoxin, a stainless steel cold-rolled plate enterprise

In early 1997, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Economic and Trade Commission, and the Ministry of Metallurgy jointly established a stainless steel research group to conduct market research, and formulated China's "Ninth Five Year Plan" for the development of stainless steel and a long-term plan for 2010, encouraging state-owned enterprises to develop stainless steel and establishing a development layout of "Nanbao Beitai".

In 1997, Taiyuan Iron and Steel Corporation put into operation a new 20 roll Sendzimir cold rolling mill imported from France

In 1997, Zhangjiagang Pohang Stainless Steel Co., Ltd. (ZPSS), controlled by Pohang Iron and Steel, was established. The first phase of the cold rolling project started in April

In 1998, Baosteel and Germany's Krupp jointly established the stainless steel cold-rolled plate enterprise Shanghai Krupp Company (SKS)

In February 1998, the first national stainless steel industry organization in China, the Stainless Steel Branch of the China Special Steel Enterprise Association, was established in Beijing

In January 2001, Baosteel laid the foundation for its stainless steel project, and in June, the first pile was laid

In 2002, Taiyuan Iron and Steel completed the renovation of its 500000 ton stainless steel production system, with an annual production capacity of 1 million tons of stainless steel. China's first converter stainless steel was produced using a three-step process

In December 2002, Taiwan Ye Lian established Lianzhong (Guangzhou) Stainless Steel Co., Ltd. as a wholly-owned subsidiary in December 2001. The cold rolling mill, hot rolling mill, and steel mill were put into operation in 2004, 2006, and 2007 respectively

In 2002, China's apparent consumption of stainless steel surpassed that of the United States, ranking first in the world

In September 2004, Taiyuan Iron and Steel started construction on a new 1.5 million ton stainless steel project, which was completed in September 2006 with a production capacity of 3 million tons

In June 2005, Baosteel's stainless steel expansion project was completed, with a stainless steel production capacity of 1.5 million tons

In 2005, the expansion and renovation project of Taiyuan Iron and Steel's stainless steel cold-rolled sheet was completed, resulting in an annual production capacity of 900000 tons of cold-rolled sheet

In 2006, the first phase of the 200000 ton slab production line of Southwest Stainless Steel Company was put into operation

In July 2006, ZPSS's annual production of 600000 tons of hot rolling and steelmaking project was put into operation, becoming a comprehensive stainless steel production enterprise

In 2006, China's stainless steel production surpassed Japan and ranked first in the world

In August 2007, Baosteel's stainless steel cold rolling production line was completed and put into operation

In November 2007, the Jiugang Cold Rolled Stainless Steel Project was officially put into operation, becoming a comprehensive stainless steel production enterprise with consistent production methods

In March 2008, Qingtuo Group settled in Fu'an, Fujian

In May 2009, Beihai Chengde was established

In August 2009, the steelmaking production line of Dongfang Special Steel was officially put into operation

In August 2010, Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry Co., Ltd. was established

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In November 2013, Zhongjin Metal was established

In October 2014, Ansteel reorganized Lianzhong (Guangzhou) Stainless Steel Co., Ltd

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In January 2018, Liugang acquired controlling stake in Zhongjin Metal

Before the reform and opening up, stainless steel, as a high-end product in steel materials, was mainly used in China's national defense, aerospace, petroleum, power, chemical and other industrial fields. It was mostly a necessary, urgent and cutting-edge field with strong corrosiveness or high temperature and other harsh environments. In 1978 and 1979, the demand for stainless steel was only around 100000 tons.

Around 1978, China's crude stainless steel production was about 90000 tons. The production process mainly involves a one-step electric arc furnace method without external refining. The vast majority of stainless steel products are 300 series austenitic steels, and before 1988, 1Cr18Ni9Ti (321) accounted for the vast majority of austenitic stainless steel products. There are only 23 stainless steel grades in the heavy 20-52 and heavy 21-52 standards, including 6 ferrites, 5 martensite, and the remaining 12 austenitic grades.

After the reform and opening up, the consumption of stainless steel in China has continuously expanded, and the scale of stainless steel consumption has been increasing, creating important market conditions for the development of China's stainless steel industry. The investment and construction in the fields of light and heavy industry have expanded the demand for stainless steel in industrial equipment, and the consumer sector has also expanded to include civilian consumer goods such as kitchenware, equipment for medical and transportation industries, and construction facilities such as municipal facilities and buildings. Since 2002, China has surpassed the United States and Japan to become the world's largest stainless steel consumer market.

With the significant increase in stainless steel consumption in China in the 1990s, the lack of quantity, variety, and quality in the domestic stainless steel industry became increasingly apparent, especially in cold-rolled sheet metal, which could not meet the needs of the market, resulting in a large number of imports and even a large amount of smuggling from 1995 to the end of the 20th century. In 2005, the import volume of stainless steel in China reached a historical high of over 3.13 million tons.

Driven by favorable market prospects and supported by reform and development policies, state-owned, private, and overseas capital actively invest in and develop the stainless steel industry. In early 1997, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Economic and Trade Commission, and the Ministry of Metallurgy jointly established a stainless steel research group to conduct market research, and formulated China's "Ninth Five Year Plan" for the development of stainless steel and a long-term plan for 2010, encouraging state-owned enterprises to develop stainless steel and establishing the development layout of "Nanbao Beitai". Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, state-owned special steel enterprises have long been the main force in domestic stainless steel production. At present, state-owned (holding) enterprises such as Taiyuan Iron and Steel, Baosteel, Jiuquan Iron and Steel, Ansteel, Beihai Chengde, and Liugang are still important components of China's stainless steel industry. Since the late 1980s, private stainless steel enterprises producing stainless steel bars, pipes, narrow strips, and other products have gradually emerged in areas such as Dainan in Xinghua, Lanshi in Foshan, Huzhou, Wenzhou, Jiaxing, and Ningbo in Zhejiang. At present, private enterprise Qingshan Industrial has become the world's largest enterprise in terms of stainless steel production capacity and output. Since the mid-1990s, foreign enterprises such as POSCO, Krupp, Nippon Steel and Allegheny Technology, as well as Taiwan funded enterprises such as Yilian, Formosa Plastics and Huaxin Lihua have also actively invested in the stainless steel industry in Chinese Mainland through joint ventures or sole proprietorships.

At present, China's stainless steel crude steel production ranks first in the world, accounting for over 50% of the total, reaching more than 26 million tons in 2018. Moreover, China has become a net exporter of stainless steel.

The three major technologies of the 20th century - external refining, continuous casting, and multi roll cold rolling - are now adopted in China's stainless steel industry. High end pipe production in enterprises such as Jiulite Material, Taiyuan Iron and Steel, Baosteel, and Great Wall Special Steel adopts hot extrusion technology, while Qingshan Industrial has innovatively developed a nickel iron and stainless steel integrated production process (RKEF+AOD dual method stainless steel smelting process) with significant impact

At present, China has a complete range of stainless steel varieties and specifications, including ultra thick, ultra wide, ultra-thin plates and strips, ultra large caliber seamless pipes, welded pipes, high-precision capillary tubes, etc. Such as "hand torn steel" (cold-rolled precision strip that can be ultra-thin to 0.02mm), ballpoint pen head steel, etc. In terms of stainless steel grades, the total number of grades included in the national standard for heat-resistant stainless steel grades (GB/T20878-2007) released in 2007 reached 143 (excluding the 21 grades that were outdated and eliminated). Among them, there are 18 ferritic grades, 38 martensitic grades, 66 austenitic grades, 11 duplex steel grades, and 10 precipitation hardening grades. In addition, many companies have successively developed new enterprise standards or group standard grades