2021, continue to deepen the reform of the supply side structural steel pipe industry in our country, promote the green low carbon industry transformation, and major changes in the country industrial policy, implement controlling capacity, output, abolish all steel export tax rebates, under the background of achieving double carbon, coping with demand changing situation both at home and abroad, trying to overcome the original material price high difficulty, Digestion of environmental protection and other factors such as the cost of a substantial rise, the realization of “reducing quantity and improving quality” high-quality development, the overall operation of the industry is stable, to meet the downstream industry steel demand and ensure the continued recovery of the national economy has made a positive contribution.

1 Steel pipe production and apparent consumption in China

According to the welded pipe production data published by the National Bureau of Statistics and the steel pipe Branch based on the production data of member enterprises to estimate the seamless steel pipe production data, from January to December 2021, the national steel pipe production of 853.62 million tons, down 3.66%; Apparent consumption was 78,811,600 tons, down 4.33% year on year. Among them, welded pipe production of 58.832 million tons, down 3.57% year on year; Apparent consumption was 55.2763 million tons, down 4.07% year on year. The estimated production of seamless steel tube is 26.80.00 million tons, down 3.86% year on year; Apparent consumption was 23.5353 million tons, with a year-on-year decrease of 4.93%. It can be seen that in 2021, China’s steel pipe, seamless steel pipe, welded pipe production and apparent consumption decreased year on year. The output and apparent consumption of steel pipes in China in 2020-2021 are shown in Table 1 and Figure 1.

From the statistical data analysis, the overall smooth operation of China’s steel pipe industry in the first half of 2021, but output growth appears narrow, compared to the affected by the international iron ore prices rose sharply in May, pipe, plate prices rose sharply, which has pushed steel prices rose sharply, but this purchase larger impact on downstream industry, make the weakening demand. In addition, the state of the steel industry to reduce crude steel production requirements, also affected some enterprises, so that in 2021, China’s steel pipe production was a certain range of decline.

2. Steel pipe prices in China

Since November 2020, due to the sharp rise in the prices of major raw materials such as iron ore, the prices of billet and strip steel in China have been greatly increased, as shown in Figure 2-3, as well as the prices of steel pipes.

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The price trend of seamless steel pipe, welded pipe and galvanized pipe in China from 2020 to 2021 is shown in Figure 4. Among them, the price of φ 219 mm×10 mm specifications of seamless steel pipe rose rapidly from November 2020, the price rose from 4645 yuan to 6638 yuan in May 2021 (is the price peak since 2008), up nearly 2000 yuan, up 42.9%; After May 2021, the price fell back to 6,160 yuan in July, down nearly 500 yuan, and then rose to 6,636 yuan in October (the second highest), and then fell to 5,931 yuan in December. The price has been oscillating at a high level since the beginning of the year.

The year 2021 is the best year for China’s steel industry since 2008, with industry benefits greatly improved. However, as one of the products of iron and steel industry, steel pipe has not been improved as much as plate, bar, wire and profile. The reasons are as follows: first, although the price of steel pipe has risen sharply, the price of steel pipe has not risen to the high level due to the influence of low oil price and low bidding price of oil well pipe. The price trend of seamless steel pipe, galvanized sheet, hot rolled sheet and rebar in China from April 2020 to January 2022 is shown in Figure 5. It can be seen that the price of galvanized sheet in 2021 is significantly higher than that of seamless steel tube 300~750 yuan, and the price of the two varieties in other years are high and low, generally fluctuating at about 200 yuan. Second, due to the sharp rise in raw and auxiliary material prices, the price difference between steel pipe and billet remains at the level of 2020, and the profit margin of products has not been greatly improved. In particular, oil well pipe production enterprises, affected by the low oil price and the low bidding price of oil well pipe, enterprise management is difficult, most enterprises are at the edge of small profit or loss, individual enterprises are still in loss.

In 2021, although the state twice adjusted the export tax rebate of steel products, so that the tax rebate rate returned to 0, but the export volume of steel pipe is not reduced but increased. The main reasons are as follows: first, due to the impact of COVID-19, some foreign steel pipe enterprises have not fully resumed production, and the market has been in short supply for a period of time, and the international steel pipe prices have risen sharply (the prices of some exported products are higher than domestic ones); Second, export enterprises are worried about the follow-up countries to increase tariffs on export products, so increase, speed up the strength of export, the volume of exports in the fourth quarter increased substantially. In December 2021, China’s steel pipe exports were 160.44% of the average of the previous 11 months. In particular, the export of seamless steel tubes in December was 531,000 tons, 203.92 percent of the average export of 260,400 tons in the first 11 months. This trend continued into the first quarter of 2022.

3.2 Main export items

According to the data released by China’s General Administration of Customs, China’s seamless steel pipe exports in 2021 3.3952 million tons, a year-on-year growth of 3.79%. Among them, seamless pipeline exports were 1.2743 million tons, down 9.60% year on year; Seamless oil well tube exports 906,200 tons, up 2.81% year on year; Seamless boiler tube exports 151,800 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 15.22%; The export of welded pipeline pipe was 757,700 tons, down 9.16% year on year; The export of welded special-shaped and square rectangular tubes was 1,325,400 tons, up 4.41% year-on-year. In 2021, due to the impact of the global COVID-19 epidemic and domestic export tax rebates, the export volume of China’s three major varieties of seamless pipe, seamless boiler pipe and welded pipe decreased significantly. See Table 3 and Figure 7 for the export of main steel pipe varieties in China in 2020-2021.

3. Import and export of steel pipes in China

3.1 Import and export volume and price

According to the data released by the General Administration of Customs, In 2021, China’s steel pipe imports of 349,600 tons, down 7.21%; The average import price was $3824 /t, up 12.71% year on year. Among them, seamless steel tube imports of 130,500 t, down 13.80%; The average import price was $5769 /t, up 13.32% year on year. Welded pipe imports 219,100 tons, down 2.80%; The average import price was us $2671 /t, up 18.31% year on year. In 2021, China exported 7.17 million tons of steel tubes, up 4.19% year on year; The average export price was $1542 /t, up 36.5% year on year. Among them, seamless steel tube exports 3.3952 million tons, up 3.79%; The average export price was $1,508 /t, up 23.67% year-on-year. The export volume of welded pipe was 3.7748 million tons, up 4.55% year on year; The average export price was $1573 /t, up 49.99% year on year. In 2021, China’s steel pipe import volume is only 0.41% of steel pipe production, welded pipe export price is higher than seamless steel pipe for the first time. See Table 2 and Figure 6 for import and export volume and proportion of Steel pipe in China in 2020-2021.

3.3 Importing and Exporting Countries

In 2021, the top 10 countries of China’s seamless steel pipe export are South Korea, India, UNITED Arab Emirates, Algeria, Thailand, Oman, Indonesia, Turkey, Vietnam, Australia, The top 10 welded steel pipe exporters are the Philippines, Nigeria, Myanmar, Australia, South Korea, Peru, Chile, Indonesia, Singapore and Canada. The destination countries of China’s steel pipe exports are mainly concentrated in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and other regions, among which southeast Asia, the Gulf and other regions account for more than 40% of China’s exports. While in Europe, North America, is one of the main consumer of steel, but since the global financial crisis in 2008, the region continue to launch the trade remedy investigation of steel pipe in our country, the current exports to the region of the steel tube accounts for less than 6%, China’s biggest export two varieties (oil well pipe, line pipe) is almost into these countries and regions. The export volume of China’s steel pipe by country or region in 2020-2021 is shown in Figure 8.