China Market Insider The Five Largest Steel Producers in China

Related Vendors

Asia Waypoint

FAULHABER Drive Systems

Wuxi InfiMotion Technology Co., Ltd.

The amount of steel China exports continues to rise year by year. We provide an overview of the five largest manufacturers.

Entire broadsides of punitive tariffs have so far failed to prevent China's steel exports from continuing to grow. In the second quarter of this year, they reached 30.7 million tons, an increase of 11 percent compared to the same period a year ago, reports the Bloomberg news agency.

US President Donald Trump has recently increased general tariffs on steel imports into the US from 25 to 50 percent. The EU, Vietnam, and other importers are also making every effort to keep China's steel at bay. However, all this protectionism does not seem to have much effect.

Despite the new global infatuation with tariff barriers, Chinese steel exporters have "found ways to at least temporarily maintain the flow of goods: They are increasing sales of products not subject to tariffs and opening up new markets," writes Bloomberg.

In some categories, exports have recently declined somewhat, such as hot-rolled strip steel, but in other categories where there are no tariffs yet, exports have risen significantly, such as semi-finished steel products (more than 300 percent more exports in the first five months of the year).

"It seems resistance is futile," Bloomberg quotes from a report by the agency Kallanish Commodities. "We have often argued that defensive trade measures are not very effective in reducing exports, and 2025 has proven this point."

But who are these remarkably successful and resilient Chinese steel companies that have not even been particularly impressed by a Donald Trump? One thing is certain: following a wave of consolidation initiated by the central government in Beijing, the largest among them have recently grown even larger.

The "World Steel Association" has just released its latest global ranking. A whole series of Chinese manufacturers are among the "Top 10" in the world. Here are the top five among them:

1. China Baowu Steel Group

• Headquarters: Shanghai
• Production in 2024: 130,09 million tons

The largest steel producer in the world, ahead of ArcelorMittal and the Ansteel Group, recorded a slight decline in production for the first time—from 131 million tons in 2023 to the aforementioned amount. However, the gap to the second and third largest producers in the world has not significantly narrowed.

The company's historical roots go back to 1890, when the "Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau" was founded, which later became the "Shanghai Steel Plant."

The company later known as "Baosteel" merged with other steel companies in 1998, and in 2016 with the Wuhan Iron and Steel Group, and has since been called "Baowu." This massive steel conglomerate has been producing more than 100 million tons annually since 2020.

In recent times, Baowu has been producing increasing amounts of "green" steel, and its modern plants, highly automated and digitized, have also impressed foreign experts. Despite all its success, CEO Hu Wangming warned last year of a "harsh winter" that has begun for the steel industry. This likely caused concern at Thyssenkrupp and elsewhere as well.

2. Ansteel Group Corporation

• Headquarters: Anshan, Provinz Liaoning
• Production in 2024: 59,55 million tons

This steel company, also very successful in the global market, has made a name for itself with modern metallurgical technologies and management methods. It manufactures, among other things, construction steel, pipes, and steel plates that are needed for construction machinery, as well as ship and railroad construction.

The rise of this steel company to the top of the world also has, as its recipe for success, a merger with competitors promoted by Beijing—in this case, the one between Anshan and Pangang in May 2010.

There is nothing in terms of steel products that Ansteel does not offer, from hot- and cold-rolled sheets, galvanized and color-coated sheets, and cold-rolled electrical steel strip, to heavy rails, seamless pipes, sections, and wire rod.

The company owns its own iron ore mines, including a magnetite iron ore mine in Australia's Karara. Recently, the company has been using AI, 5G, and autonomously operated, unmanned vehicles in its mines 300 meters (approx. 1000 ft) underground.

3. HBIS Group

• Headquarters: Shijiazhuang, Provinz Hebei
• Production in 2024: 42,28 million tons

This number three in China's steel industry, which has been increasingly pushing into the global market, has many customers in the automotive industry for its high-quality steel sheets. The company also offers a wide range of specialty steel. For China's automotive industry, the largest in the world by far, HBIS is the second-largest steel supplier. In the production of titanium and vanadium alloys, HBIS ranks as the second-largest globally.

Just like 800 other major Chinese companies, the HBIS Group has voluntarily committed to becoming completely climate-neutral by 2050 and is using artificial intelligence, among other technologies, to optimize its processes.

4. Shagang Group

• Headquarters: Zhangjiagang, Provinz Jiangsu
• Production in 2024: 40,22 million tons

China's largest private steel company employs more than 30,000 people. Its portfolio includes hot-rolled strip steel, high-speed wire rod, coiled wire, ribbed steel, and round bars made of special steel—in a total of 60 series with more than 700 types and nearly 2000 specifications.

In Germany, Shagang made headlines in 2001 when it purchased the Thyssenkrupp plant in Dortmund-Hörde for 30 million euros  (approx. 35 million USD), had it completely dismantled by 600 Chinese workers, and then shipped it to China, where it was reassembled and has since been successfully producing steel. In China, however, energy costs are also much cheaper than in the far more climate-progressive Germany.

"It is a bit sad to see all these parts disappear," said Hans Plück of Thyssenkrupp at the time to the "BBC". "But the people here, the workers and engineers, think it is better for the factory to continue operations in China rather than being scrapped."

5. Jianlong Group

• Headquarters: Beijing
• Production in 2024: 39,27 million tons

The management of Jianlong understood early on that in China—and now also worldwide—steel producers can only survive if they produce very large quantities of steel. The company has earned a reputation for being relatively aggressive in buying up smaller companies on the side.

The result of this strategy is a profitable conglomerate comprising heavy industry and other integrated parts of an extensive value chain, such as shipbuilding, electromechanics, and other business areas. Jianlong has also invested in its own raw material resources.

The company's growth phase, meanwhile, seems far from over. There are repeated reports about Jianlong's new plans to build steel plants abroad, most recently in Kazakhstan. The company has also announced an ambitious goal of producing 50 million tons of steel per year soon.

*Henrik Bork is Managing Director at Asia Waypoint, a consulting agency specializing in China, based in Beijing. "China Market Insider" is a joint project of the Vogel Communications Group, Würzburg (Germany), and Jigong Vogel Media Advertising in Beijing.

Future-Proof Authentication with Universal RFID Readers

Universal RFID Readers: One Solution for All Credentials