Recently, a conference was held to discuss the forecast of China and the world’s steel demands in 2022, as well as the 2021 competitiveness (and development quality) ratings of Chinese steel enterprises issued by the China Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute. The Shougang Group was once again rated A+ (extremely strong), ranking among the world’s top.

This year, facing the epidemic, environmental protection, power restriction, output reduction and other challenges, the Party Committee of the Group has united and led cadres and workers to focus on high-quality development, make concerted efforts to seize market opportunities, align with the standards and identify differences, advance and deepen reform, constantly improve the quality and control of operations, and create a good start for the “14th Five-year” Plan. The annual output of iron, steel, materials and leading high-end and strategic products, as well as indicators such as operating income, total profit, operating cash flow, repayment of interest-bearing liabilities and debt reduction rate, have hit record highs. 

The standard index system adopted for the ratings includes the three sectors of basic competitiveness, development competitiveness and performance competitiveness, 13 elements such as production scale, and 23 indicators such as crude steel output, which are used as the basis for the assessment results. The total crude steel output of the 122 assessed steel enterprises accounted for 90.2% of the total national output, while steel enterprises rated A+ accounted for 14.8% of the total, and their combined crude steel output accounted for 49.3% of the national total. Eighteen steel enterprises received an A+ rating (extremely strong), including China Baowu Iron & Steel Group Co., Ltd., CITIC Pacific Special Steel Group Co., Ltd. and the Jiangsu Shagang Group; 38 steel enterprises, including the Jinxi Iron and Steel Group, were granted an A rating (very strong); and 36 steel enterprises, including the Tangshan Donghai Iron and Steel Group, were given a B+ rating (strong).

The Shougang Group was also rated A+ (extremely strong) at the release conference of the 2020 competitiveness (and development quality) ratings of Chinese steel enterprises held in December last year.