Emissions in China’s steel industry increased by 4.1% y/y in 2024

Total emissions in China’s steel industry increased by 4.1% in 2024 compared to 2023. This was reported by the China Steel Association (CISA).

Sulphur dioxide emissions per ton of steel amounted to 0.19 kg/t (-12.2% y/y), particulate matter – 0.21 kg/t (-9.8% y/y), nitrogen oxide – 0.35 kg/t (-10.2% y/y).

The total volume of water used by steelmaking companies increased by 1.9% y/y – to 97.02 billion cubic meters. In particular, new water intake decreased by 1.4% y/y, while reuse increased by 2% y/y. The water reuse rate amounted to 98.3%, up 0.06 percentage points y/y.

Chinese steelmakers produced 84.55 million tons of steel slag in January-December, down 1.9% y/y. Blast furnace slag production decreased by 0.1% y/y to 233.56 million tons. The utilization rate of steelmaking slag was 99% (+0.24 percentage points y/y), and blast furnace slag – 99.43%.

Blast furnace gas generation amounted to 965.5 billion cubic meters, up 0.7% y/y, BOF gas – 82.34 billion cubic meters (-2% y/y), and coke oven gas – 53.57 billion cubic meters (-1% y/y). The blast furnace gas utilization rate was 98.88%, up 0.19 percentage points compared to 2023, BOF gas utilization rate was 98.63% (-0.16 percentage points y/y), and coke oven gas utilization rate was 98.67% (+0.12 percentage points y/y).

As GMK Center reported earlier, China reduced steel production by 1.7% year-on-year – to 1.005 billion tons in 2024. This is the lowest figure in the last five years. 2024 is likely to be the last year when steel production in China exceeded 1 billion tons.

In 2023, Chinese steelmakers increased steel production by 0.6% y/y – to 1.019 billion tons. This halted the downward trend in the industry after two consecutive years of declining production. At the same time, the Chinese authorities did not impose restrictions on steel production in line with their ambitions to reduce CO2 emissions.

At the same time, in 2021-2022, the downward trend in the industry was supported by appropriate restrictions. Thus, in 2023, emissions increased by 7.8% y/y. In 2024, the growth in emissions was driven by increased utilization of blast furnace capacity due to higher margins for producers compared to electric arc furnaces.