On 27 July, Sichuan Metallurgical Holding Group (SMHG) was officially inaugurated at a press conference in Chengdu, Southwest China’s Sichuan province, marking the establishment of the largest EAF-based steel producer in China.

          SMHG is not a new company with newly-built steel capacities; it is a consolidated group of eight existing steelmakers located in different places in the same province.

The eight steelmakers are all privately-owned, while the consolidation was facilitated by the provincial authority for higher efficiency and environmental improvement. The Group has a 51% stake in each of the eight subsidiaries. Operations such as procurement, production management and sales will be integrated into the new Group.

          All steelmaking facilities of the new Group are EAF-based, and the company will continue to focus on the EAF route in the future. In 2021, the combined crude steel capacity is 10.5 Mt/a and the ambition is to expand the capacity to 20.0 Mt/a by 2025 through mergers & acquisitions and joint ventures.

          Shagang Group, the largest privately-owned steelmaker in China, used to own the largest EAF capacity (approximately 7.0 Mt/a) in addition to its 35.0 Mt/a integrated steel capacity.

         SMHG is now the largest EAF-based steelmaker in China, followed by Feida Group (2.4 Mt/a). There is no official data on the number of stand-alone EAF-based steelmakers in

China, but all the other EAF-based steelmakers’ capacity is less than 2.0 Mt/a each.

         The total crude steel capacity installed in Sichuan is about 30.0 Mt/a, with actual crude steel production of 27.9 Mt in 2020, ranking No.11 out of all 31 provinces. Located in the upper stream of the Yangtze River, Sichuan has a unique advantage to develop EAF-based steelmaking thanks to its hydraulic power generation.

--World steel Association