During its briefing on its results for the first half of the current year held on August 29, major Chinese steelmaker Baoshan Iron and Steel (Baosteel) stated that its strategy is to focus on the development of the special long steel and heavy plate business, as well as keep its export share at a higher level, and that it is conducting talks with various potential partners to make steel investments in different regions, mainly in the MENA region, but also in Southeast Asia and Central Asia.
According to the company, its current focus is still on the development of production and sales of high-end products with special long steel products and heavy plates named as the new targets. Baosteel has been expanding in automotive steel and silicon steel in past years and production of these products has already been improved. “Our exports of grain-oriented silicon steel account for 25 percent [of total exports], a significant proportion,” a company official said.
In the heavy plate segment, Baosteel is focusing on improvement of production, quality and distribution from its Chinese assets. “Through collaboration with Shandong Iron & Steel Rizhao, we have a total heavy plate production capacity of 10 million mt, boasting a comprehensive product mix,” Baosteel stated.
Baosteel is also progressing in its first greenfield overseas project with a $1 billion steel plate project located in Saudi Arabia, with an overall annual capacity of 2.5 million mt of DRI, 1.667 million mt of steel and 1.5 million mt of high-end medium steel plate. Baosteel commented, “The Saudi Arabia model will be replicated in more One Belt One Road countries across Southeast Asia and North Africa, aiming to create an overseas steel cluster”. Baosteel officials also stated, “As our internationalization strategy deepens and industry trends continue to evolve, establishing regional or full process production lines abroad will become an inevitable and necessary step.”
After establishing a joint venture with Saudi state-owned petroleum and natural gas company Aramco and Saudi-based Public Investment Fund (PIF) in 2024, Baosteel is working on negotiations with equipment suppliers, optimization of logistics and construction plans. The new project will be the first heavy plate production base in the GCC. At the moment, most plates into the region are imported from China, South Korea and Indonesia. "It seems most of the plates will be for local government projects," a source commented to SteelOrbis.
Apart from this project in Saudi Arabia, first announced in 2021, Baosteel also mentioned for the first time its intention to develop production bases in Southeast Asia and Central Asia, but with no further details.
One of the reasons for interest in development overseas is the still strong demand for mid- and high-end products outside of China, the company said. Exports of steel production by Baosteel reached 4.83 million mt in the first seven months of this year, significantly higher than 6.07 million mt shipped abroad in the whole of 2024, meaning that this year the share of exports in the company’s total sales increased to 12-14 percent. Baosteel said that its aim is to keep the export share at 10-12 percent, focusing on high-value added products.
As previously reported by SteelOrbis, Baosteel announced a net profit of RMB 4.879 billion ($0.69 billion) for the first half of 2025, up 7.36 percent year on year.