The World's Largest Producer and Consumer of Steel Pipes: China's Steel Pipe Industry Enters a Critical Stage of In-depth Transformation

China's Steel Pipe Industry: Decades of Development and a New Era of Transformation

After decades of development, China's steel pipe industry has become the world's largest producer and consumer of steel pipes, with export volumes hitting a record high in 2024. On May 28, the 2025 (2nd) Daqiuzhuang Forum with the theme of "Empowering the Steel Pipe Industry Chain with New Productivity" was held. Focused on the high-quality development of China's steel pipe industry, the forum deeply discussed key issues such as promoting technological innovation, improving upstream and downstream industry chain construction, and advancing the industry's high-end, intelligent, and green development.

Liu Yi, Executive Vice President of the China Steel Structure Association, stated that the theme of the 2025 (2nd) Daqiuzhuang Forum aligns with industry development trends. It aims to drive the steel pipe industry toward high-end, green, and intelligent directions through technological, model, and management innovations, injecting new momentum into its high-quality development. Zhang Longqiang, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Iron and Steel Association and Secretary of the Party Committee & Dean of the Information and Standards Institute, hoped that the forum would become a platform for industry-wide ideological exchanges and win-win cooperation, jointly writing a new chapter in the high-quality development of China's steel industry.

### Urgent Transformation and Upgrading of China's Steel Pipe Industry

Steel pipes, valued for their sturdiness and versatility, are crucial components in industries such as construction, energy, and water management. As countries accelerate infrastructure construction and manufacturing activities recover, demand for steel pipes has rebounded. Zhang Longqiang analyzed that the global steel industry is still in a new round of fluctuating adjustment, and China's steel pipe industry will enter a critical stage of deep transformation in 2025. The market demand structure is undergoing systematic重塑 (restructuring), with demand in high-end fields accelerating, and the transformation and upgrading process has fully accelerated. High-end, green, and intelligent development have become the core drivers of the industry's high-quality development (10.740, -0.17, -1.56%). "With the continuous release of industrial policy dividends and the joint efforts of the entire industry, a new pattern of high-quality and sustainable development for the steel pipe industry will be created," Zhang Longqiang said.

China has increased infrastructure investment from a policy perspective, while consumption upgrading, industrial foundation strengthening, equipment upgrading, and intelligent manufacturing have provided opportunities for the steel pipe industry. Facing the negative growth in national welded pipe production, Li Maojin, Chairman of Tianjin Youfa Steel Pipe Group Co., Ltd., analyzed the market situation: first, the overall market shrinkage with growing demand in the steel structure sector; second, continuous macro-policy support; third, China remains the world's largest consumer market. Liu Changqing, Chairman of Lange Group, believes that China's steel pipe industry is currently facing severe challenges of shrinking demand, overcapacity, and thin profits, making transformation and upgrading urgent. Injecting new productivity is the key to breaking the deadlock.

China's steel pipe industry has reached world-class levels in technology, processes, and equipment, laying a solid foundation for its healthy development. Liu Yi stated that in recent years, China's steel pipe industry has made remarkable achievements in scale, technology, and application fields and is currently in a critical period of transformation and upgrading, where opportunities and challenges coexist. Wu Yaohua, Deputy Director of the Expert Committee of the China Steel Structure Association, believes that to respond to sustainable development requirements, it is urgent to increase the application proportion of steel pipes, especially rectangular pipes, in steel structure engineering. He proposed a high-efficiency steel solution for steel structures, featuring high material performance, efficient cross-sections, and green economy. "Steel pipe structures should develop toward standardization, achieving standardized components and nodes, and driving the high-quality and efficient development of steel structures through standards," Wu Yaohua emphasized.

Although there are numerous steel pipe enterprises in China, their scales are generally small due to limitations in funds, technology, human resources, and R&D capabilities. Song Zhiping, President of the China Association for Listed Companies, emphasized important concepts such as "industry interests are higher than enterprise interests, and enterprise interests are rooted in industry interests," "良性 competition (benign competition) creates value, while恶性 competition (malignant competition) destroys value," and "pricing should be determined by management rather than sales staff." Aiming at the "involution" dilemma in the steel industry, he proposed five strategies: first, guiding with industrial policies and coordinating supply and demand; second, promoting mergers and acquisitions to enhance industry concentration; third, strengthening industry self-discipline, rejecting price wars, and attaching importance to pricing power; fourth, exploring new fields through the "four transformations" path from red oceans to blue oceans; fifth, implementing a dual circulation strategy, focusing on both domestic development and overseas expansion.

### Showcasing the Strength of "Made in China" Steel Pipe Industry Globally

In 2025, China's steel pipe industry is expected to see certain improvements, with domestic and foreign policy changes becoming the main factors affecting the steel industry's trend. Major brands have engaged in fierce competition in product quality, technological innovation, and market share, and the market has shown resilience. With the expansion of infrastructure projects and industrial operations, the steel pipe market is expected to thrive, and continuous innovation and strategic growth plans will determine its future. In particular, with the continuous development of technology, steel pipe manufacturing technologies are improving and innovating. New manufacturing technologies can enhance production efficiency and product quality while reducing energy consumption and environmental pollution. For example, the application of technologies such as high-efficiency welding and automated production lines can improve the automation and intelligence level of steel pipe production.

Currently, market demand for sustainable and high-quality steel pipes is rising, calling for further stimulating the innovation vitality of the steel pipe industry, promoting cooperation and exchanges among enterprises, and driving the industry toward high-end, intelligent, and green development. It is expected that China's steel pipe market will continue to grow, mainly driven by demand growth in key industries such as oil and gas, construction, and automobiles, as well as breakthroughs in manufacturing technology and materials science. Li Maojin stated that Daqiuzhuang, Jinghai District, Tianjin, is China's earliest and largest welded steel pipe production base, known as the "China Welded Pipe Industry Base," with its main industry still focused on metal processing manufacturing dominated by welded steel pipe production.

As a traditional advantageous industry in Jinghai District, Tianjin, the steel industry has an annual processing capacity of over 38 million tons, with an annual welded pipe output of 17 million tons, accounting for about one-third of the national total. It is home to China's top 500 private enterprises such as Youfa Group (5.630, -0.02, -0.35%) and Yuantai Derun. Yang Chenguang, Deputy District Mayor of Jinghai District, Tianjin, said that as an important industrial base and a strong district for private economy in Tianjin, Jinghai District ranks among the top in the city in terms of the number of above-scale industrial enterprises and output value, with private economy adding value accounting for 66.7%. "As a highly influential steel pipe industry cluster in China, Daqiuzhuang is not only a strategic aggregation highland for industry chain elements but also a source hub for industry innovation practices. Every breakthrough here profoundly influences the regional economic transformation process and provides key demonstrations for the upgrading of the national steel industry," Liu Changqing believes.

It is reported that the Daqiuzhuang Forum has been successfully held for two sessions, gradually becoming a highly representative and influential event in the steel pipe field. In the future, it will continue to leverage its platform advantages, gather more wisdom and strength from the industry, contribute ideas for the high-quality development of the steel pipe industry, and help the industry open a new chapter. Yang Chenguang said that by seizing the strategic opportunity of Daqiuzhuang being incorporated into Tianjin Ziya Economic and Technological Development Area, Jinghai District will make full use of important international platforms such as the 2025 Summer Davos Forum and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit to showcase the strength of China's steel pipe industry as "Made in China" to the world. Through improving the industry chain collaborative innovation mechanism and gathering global high-quality resources, it will promote the region's transformation from a "China Steel Pipe Industry Base" to a "World Steel Pipe Industry Innovation Highland."

Note: For stock price-related content in parentheses (e.g., (10.740, -0.17, -1.56%)), the original format is retained as it involves specific financial data. Key terms like "new productivity" and industry concepts are translated to maintain professionalism.