Commissioning of Capacities at Steel Mills’ Blast Furnaces Missed Expectations in 2022, Peak of Capacity Commissioning will Continue to be Delayed

SHANGHAI, Jan 4 - There were many blast furnace capacity replacement plans in 2022. SMM has sorted out the blast furnaces that were put into operation and withdrew in 2022. 30 blast furnaces have actually been put into operation, with a total capacity of 49.23 million mt, which account for only 35.87% of the planned capacity commissioning. 39 blast furnaces actually withdrew, with a total capacity of 34.29 million mt, completing 50.23% of the exit plan. The commissioning of some capacity replacement projects has been postponed to 2023.

Since 2022, new blast furnaces have been put into operation, especially in the second half of the year.

According to SMM statistics, 30 new blast furnaces with a total capacity of 49.23 million mt were put into operation in 2022, and 34.29 million mt of capacity was eliminated. Net capacity growth stood at 15 million mt. Some capacities were phased out in 2020 and 2021. However, the commissioning of blast furnaces in 2022 was far below expectations. According to the plan, 137.24 million mt of steelmaking capacity should have been put into production in 2022. But the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of steel products deferred the commissioning of blast furnaces.

Some steel mills have completed the construction of blast furnaces which were ready for production. However, the commissioning of those blast furnaces was postponed considering profitability issues. The peak year of blast furnace commissioning has been postponed. From the current point of view, the peak production time has been postponed to 2023, but whether the blast furnace can be put into production as scheduled depends on steel profits. SMM will follow up the actual capacity of China's blast furnaces in 2022 in a timely manner.