A senior steel official says China's steel sector must not waste
any time sharpening its competitive edge to deal with escalating
global market competition and meet higher standards that come
with national economic growth.
Although the country
is the world's largest steel producer, there is still more
room for improvement, Pu Haiqing, director of the State Administration
of Metallurgical Industry, said during the 2000 China International
Steel Conference, which began yesterday in Beijing.
Over the past four
years, the country's annual steel output exceeded 100 million
tons, however, the low-grade steel products made up the lion's
share.
"We must make
more high value-added steel products to survive fierce global
competition," Pu said.
After the country's
accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Chinese
Government will have to lower its tariffs to 8 per cent from
10 per cent and remove other barriers on steel imports, which
will create a great challenge for domestic steel makers.
The country will
also need more high value-added steel products.
The country's steel
sector's development strategy in the new century was the highlight
of the five-day steel conference.
Pu said the government
will accelerate industrial restructuring and concentrate its
efforts on supporting the four most promising steel enterprises
through technical upgrading and asset re-allocation.
The Shanghai-based
Baoshan Iron and Steel Corp, the Capital Iron and Steel Corp,
the Anshan Iron and Steel Corp in Northeast China's Liaoning
Province and the Wuhan Iron and Steel Corp in Central China's
Hubei Province have been at the top of the list.
The sector is also
closing hundreds of small steel plants and phasing out obsolete
equipment to create a favourable condition for key enterprises.
More than 50 billion
yuan (US$6.02 billion) will be channeled into the sector's
technical upgrading within the next few years.
"In the country's
10th Five-Year Plan (2001-2005), the sector will focus on
the development of the high value-added products, including
hot and cold-rolled thin steel plates, galvanized steel plates,
stainless thin steel plates and cold-rolled silicon steel,
to satisfy mounting domestic demand," Pu told the conference.
During the conference,
six seminars concerning steel production technology, material
supply and steel product trade will be conducted.
About 1,000 government
officials, entrepreneurs and experts from 20 countries and
regions attended the conference.
The conference
was co-sponsored by the administration, China Iron and Steel
Association and the Metallurgical Subordinate Council under
China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
(China Daily 05/08/2000)
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