An iron ore lump, if it follows only the conventional path through sintering, blast furnace, and converter to become ordinary rebar, would likely end up hidden within building concrete, fetching just three to four thousand yuan per tonne. However, if it chooses a different route and undergoes more rigorous refinement, repeatedly rolled by cold rolling mills until it becomes thinner than paper, followed by complex surface treatment and magnetic property optimization, it can transform into premium electrical steel used in new energy vehicle and robot motors, commanding prices of tens of thousands of yuan per tonne.

The 15th Five-Year Plan outline explicitly calls for promoting structural adjustments in industries such as steel, petrochemicals, and shipbuilding, aiming to strengthen and optimize premium steel bases, world-class petrochemical bases, and high-end ship and marine engineering equipment bases. What exactly constitutes premium steel? How can premium steel bases be strengthened and optimized? Recently, reporters visited Qian'an City, the core hub of Hebei Province's advanced steel manufacturing cluster, to explore these questions.

From competing on volume to competing on variety, technology, and added value, Qian'an is forging a path toward premium development. At the new energy operation area of Shougang Zhixin Electromagnetic Materials (Qian'an) Co., Ltd. in the Qian'an Economic Development Zone, rolling production lines are operating at full capacity, producing coils of thin, silver-glazed electrical steel in just over ten minutes. Su Hong, deputy director of the Qian'an Data Technology and Industrial Information Bureau, explained that premium steel generally refers to high-quality, high-performance, high-tech steel materials with special requirements used in equipment manufacturing, major projects, machinery, automobiles, and high-end consumer goods. "Electrical steel, for instance, is a typical premium steel product, usually requiring advanced production technology and equipment, which is why it carries higher added value."

Several years ago, our main product was galvanized wire, a common metal product where a layer of metallic zinc is coated onto steel wire to enhance corrosion resistance, which required multiple downstream processes before use in industrial applications. Even during favorable market conditions, we could only earn around a hundred yuan per tonne," said Bai Junling, head of the comprehensive management office at Qian'an Dingtai Hardware Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Based on market trend assessments, the company decisively shifted downstream, upgrading its products toward premium iterations by processing galvanized wire into premium stationery nail boards, achieving added value and doubling profitability after the product upgrade.

The efforts of individual enterprises to develop premium steel reflect broader changes in China's steel industry. In terms of total volume, the industry has moved beyond scale expansion into a new phase of demand-reduced development. In the first half of the year, national crude steel output reached 500 million tonnes, down 3.0% year-on-year; apparent crude steel consumption was 437 million tonnes, down 3.4%, continuing the downward trend since China's steel consumption peaked in 2020. In terms of structure, as the nation's industrial structure continues to optimize, steel demand patterns have shifted significantly. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, construction sector steel consumption dropped from 58% to 49%, while manufacturing sector consumption rose to 51%, becoming a key pillar of steel demand. This aligns with the nation's industrial upgrading.

Jiang Wei, Party Secretary of the China Iron and Steel Association, noted that the steel industry is at a critical transition period of volume reduction and structural optimization, where the focus is not on total output but on the share of superior products. Enterprises should implement quality and brand-building initiatives, adopt a quality-first philosophy, avoid homogeneous competition, and pursue premium development, shifting from competing on volume to competing on variety, technology, and added value. In Qian'an, an increasing number of steel products are earning premium labels. Yanshan Steel's high-strength wear-resistant steel enhances the durability of mining truck bodies and engineering machinery; Hangniu Special Steel's high-end metal wire ropes serve engineering machinery and port crane applications; Yanbo Color Coated Board's premium coated plates beautify modern buildings and home appliances. Currently, Qian'an is moving away from the traditional development model dominated by crude steel capacity, adhering to high-end and premium development, and building four major product segments: electrical steel, high-end coils, premium wire rods, and specialty sections. In 2025, the Qian'an steel industry cluster's operating revenue exceeded 190 billion yuan, with premium steel accounting for 46%.

From rigid to flexible, from manufacturing to services, the industry is extending its chain and enhancing quality. What does a premium steel base look like? Outside the Dingtai Hardware workshop, trucks loaded with hot-rolled wire rods from Qian'an Jiujiang Wire Rod Co., Ltd., located just six or seven kilometers away, stream in; inside, these 6.5-millimeter diameter rods undergo drawing, galvanizing, and re-drawing processes to be refined down to fractions of a millimeter, ultimately bonded into neat rows of stationery nail boards for the next processing stage. This busy yet precise "in and out" flow represents daily operations in Qian'an's steel industry: anchored by six full-process steel enterprises, 159 supporting companies form an integrated chain, from crude steel to premium steel, from simple wire drawing to precision deep processing, creating a complete steel industry chain that operates around the clock. Crude steel is no longer the endpoint but the starting point for quality enhancement and chain extension.

Steel has become flexible and customizable. At Tangshan Yanyang Cold Rolling Co., Ltd.'s production planning room, planners closely monitor screens to match raw materials with orders, scheduling hundreds of production orders for the day. The screen displays numerous small, scattered orders—some requiring just one coil of about twenty tonnes, others two or four coils totaling forty to fifty tonnes, and some orders covering over ten different specifications simultaneously. "Customized production sounds easy but is difficult to execute; frequent specification changes require constant equipment parameter adjustments and production rhythm realignment, making organization exponentially harder. Most peers are unwilling or unable to do it," said plant manager Liu Xiaofeng. "From selling what we have to producing what's needed, customized production has become our competitive advantage in differentiation. In the current market with declining steel prices, we can sell each tonne for tens of yuan more."

From manufacturing to services, industry resilience has strengthened. At Tiandao Warehousing and Logistics Port's yard, a train arrives at the platform, and the car dumper activates—coke cascades from the hopper, transported via belt corridors to the raw material warehouse. Nearby, gantry cranes load bundles of finished steel onto another train bound for Shandong and other regions. "Two to three hundred thousand tonnes of bulk raw materials come in daily, and five to six thousand tonnes of finished steel go out," said Luo Wenjie, deputy general manager of Tiandao Warehousing and Logistics Port (Qian'an) Co., Ltd. Leveraging the clustering advantages of the Qian'an Steel Shared Economy Industrial Park platform, Tiandao has built 17 dedicated railway lines, openly shared with regional steel enterprises, providing one-stop logistics services for raw material storage, transportation, and steel outbound shipping. In 2025, Tiandao achieved throughput exceeding 15 million tonnes, with external business accounting for nearly half, profits surpassing 100 million yuan, effectively reducing regional steel enterprises' transportation costs and clearing production-sales bottlenecks.

Adhering to high-end, intelligent, and green development directions, Qian'an is focusing on developing high-value-added premium steel. Within Shougang Co., Ltd. Qian'an Steel Company's plant area, a near-zero carbon emission electric arc furnace production line is under rapid construction. Electric arc furnace steelmaking uses scrap steel as raw material, eliminating high-pollution, energy-intensive, and carbon-emitting processes like coking, sintering, and blast furnace ironmaking, reducing carbon emissions by over 60% compared to previous methods. Shougang Qian'an Steel is replacing one existing 210-tonne converter with one 160-tonne electric arc furnace, using cleaner furnaces to produce better steel. This substitution of capacity for green development exemplifies Qian'an's steel industry transformation. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Qian'an implemented 366 steel industry technological transformation projects, raising the premium steel share from 35% to 46%.

Looking toward the 15th Five-Year Plan, how will Qian'an's premium steel base continue to iterate and upgrade? "Currently, over half of the steel products produced in Qian'an's steel industry remain ordinary steel such as wire rods and strips, indicating enormous potential for structural optimization and transformation," Su Hong said. "During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Qian'an will adhere to high-end, intelligent, and green directions, focus on developing high-value-added premium steel, and continue strengthening and optimizing the premium steel base." On one front, the city is leveraging digital transformation to upgrade production toward intelligent manufacturing. At Qian'an Zhengda General Steel Pipe Co., Ltd.'s steel pipe production line, high-speed industrial cameras capture images of welded pipes—data on defective pipes including cracks, pinholes, and open seams is rapidly recorded into the system. "We're currently in the data collection phase, and expect official implementation within the year," said Wen Guoqiang, general manager of Zhengda Pipe Manufacturing. "Previously, weld quality inspection relied entirely on manual work—experienced workers used visual inspection and experience, taking one to two minutes per six-meter pipe. It was slow and only allowed for sampling, unable to cover every pipe." Wen explained that once this intelligent quality inspection system is operational, detection speeds can reach 130 meters per minute, completing quality checks on a single pipe in under 10 seconds—a tenfold efficiency improvement—while operating 24/7, significantly shortening production cycles, reducing rework rates and steel waste, and enhancing product quality at the source.

On another front, the city is breaking new ground, continuously expanding new product varieties and tracks. At Zhong'an Steel Manufacturing (Qian'an) Steel Plate Co., Ltd.'s exhibition area, silver-gray galvanized aluminum-magnesium steel plates emit a metallic sheen. Deputy general manager Yang Li explained that compared to ordinary galvanized products, adding aluminum and magnesium to the zinc layer dramatically improves corrosion resistance—10 to 20 times that of standard hot-dip galvanized steel plates. "It's precisely this technological advantage that has established our foothold in the photovoltaic support steel sector." The steel industry currently faces prominent supply-demand imbalances. Yang believes that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, enterprises should not blindly expand capacity but instead deepen technology, refine products, and explore more market opportunities on the demand side. "Taking our flagship product, galvanized aluminum-magnesium steel plates, as an example, beyond photovoltaic support steel, there's greater potential. For instance, 5G base station enclosures require strict corrosion resistance, and in urban ventilation duct systems, galvanized aluminum-magnesium products offer longer service life. As China's manufacturing sector places greater emphasis on quality upgrading and urban renewal progresses steadily, I believe more market opportunities will emerge. We will continue optimizing our processes, expanding into new fields, and opening broader markets with better products," Yang said.