China’s environmental measures will not curb steel production and seaborne iron ore growth

Edinburgh, 28 March 2014

Wood Mackenzie: Steel plants in China have been targeted as a major source of the toxic smog enveloping Beijing and Shanghai. Emergency measures have been imposed on regional steelmakers with mills in Tangshan ordered to suspend at least 30% of production and idle coke batteries and sintering operations.

Longer term measures include the introduction of more stringent emission controls. Wood Mackenzie notes that although this move has created market wariness for China steel production and iron ore demand, the impact on steel production will be minimal. This is because there is plenty of unused capacity within China's steel industry ready to replace any lost production, due to shut downs resulting from enforcement of the new emissions regulations. However, improving the environmental performance of Chinese steel plants will add further cost pressure to an already ailing industry.

Mr Paul Gray, Principal Iron Ore Markets Analyst at Wood Mackenzie says, "The iron ore market is understandably spooked by what's going on in China due to the introduction of the environmental controls and their potential financial impact on the steel industry. This has sparked much uncertainty and speculation. This is one factor that has caused price volatility, with prices plunging to 17 month lows in recent weeks before picking up again very recently. However, during the remainder of 2014 we expect that fighting emissions will have negligible impact on total Chinese crude steel production and limited impact on iron ore demand in terms of quantity, with Chinese imports of iron ore predicted to rise by a further 90 million tonnes (Mt) in 2014 to a record 921Mt."

Dr He Ming, Steel Cost Consultant at Wood Mackenzie, adds, "Steel companies need to put emissions control measures in place. However, given that most Chinese plants are tight on capital after years of near-zero margins, they will struggle with the additional costs required to implement the necessary measures and many companies will be looking for a way to pass the cost onto consumers." To achieve emissions levels on a par with their counterparts in Japan or South Korea, most steel plants would have to invest and incur more than RMB 50-60/t (US$8.3-10/t) of additional operating cost, further eroding their already narrow margins. This comes following the announcement that the average net profit margin at steelmakers in 2013 was just over 0.64% for 86 of China Iron and Steel Association's (CISA) key steel enterprises.

If steel companies are unable to meet the new lower emissions targets, they may be forced to temporarily or even permanently shut production but Wood Mackenzie expects the targets will have more impact on small scale non-CISA steel plants. These smaller plants have outdated emissions control facilities and are estimated to have emission levels three to four times higher than their CISA counterparts. Dr He says, "Non-CISA steel plants contributed to less than 20% of China's steel production in 2013 therefore although an aggressive plan of capacity closures has been announced by the central and local governments, the scale of closures is expected to have a limited impact on a steel industry that is suffering from chronic overcapacity."

"Additionally, most of the announced closures to date have been for capacity already idled or curtailed for other reasons, with the lost production picked up by the larger steel plants. It is unlikely that we will see forced closures amongst the larger plants as this move will not reduce emissions significantly. Moreover, it will have a detrimental effect on local economies by creating large numbers of unemployed workers and unpaid debts. This is not ideal, especially since Xi Jinping's government is encouraging a market-based economy with increased domestic consumer power. Therefore we do not expect closures of the larger scale plants to be the next step enforced."

With the concept that environmental regulations will apply to each steel plant fairly, regardless of size or whether it is privately or state-owned, this would shift the entire Chinese steel industry cost curve higher and further erode margins. It is therefore likely that these incremental cost increases will be passed on to end users. Moreover, since sintering is the most polluting process within a steel plant, some plants will look to replace sinter rather than incur the additional operating costs required to meet new emissions standards. Sintering is responsible for 80%-90% of total dust and soot emissions and more than 60% of total sulfur emissions from the steel industry.

Wood Mackenzie anticipates that replacements for the sintering process will result in an increase in demand for the more expensive, higher quality and environmentally-friendly raw materials like iron ore lump and pellet; supporting higher premiums for these products. There will be a natural cap on how much capacity can be switched away from sinter to higher quality feed as the price premium will become equal to the additional cost of implementing the necessary environmental measures.

The limited impact on steel production accounts for the minimal consequences for iron ore demand. Mr Gray adds, "Of longer term significance is the seaborne market's anticipated transition as it moves towards a position of excess supply capability when Chinese demand struggles to absorb all the additional seaborne supply earmarked for the this year and next. 2014 will certainly be a transition year for iron ore but we think this is not necessarily related to China's environmental measures it's more symptomatic of rising Australian supply and slowing Chinese demand."

Dr He concludes, "Government and steel companies will need to work together to protect the industry while still gradually improving emissions. On the company-side, we expect China's larger steel plants will take alternative measures to meet environmental requirements but they will incur extra costs of implementing emissions control facilities in the longer term. On the government side, a more effective way to curb pollution is to improve monitoring methods at individual plants. This will enable the government to impose heavy fines on those with emissions beyond a well-defined threshold, while incentivising those with lesser emission levels by offering subsidies to offset extra costs incurred."

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