
Metal fabrication in China – additional information
Over the past two decades, Chinese steel industry has increased its output significantly and has grown into the world’s largest crude steel producing country. According to the World Steel Association, China had produced approximately 823 million metric tons of crude steel in 2014, accounting for almost 50 percent of the world’s production. Among the top 10 global steelmakers, seven companies were from China in 2013. These large state-owned enterprises have dominated the Chinese steel industry. Baosteel alone had produced around 44 million metric tons of raw steel in 2013.
With a total land area of 9.6 million square kilometers, China is one of the largest countries worldwide and in possession of large mineral deposits. China was by far the leading hard coal producing country worldwide, with a hard coal production volume of almost 3.5 billion metric tons in 2013. As of 2013, China has been the world’s largest aluminum producer with a total smelter production of approximately 22 million metric tons of aluminum. Also, China has the world’s largest reserves of zinc, antimony and many other nonferrous metals. Its annual production of rare earths far exceeded the total for the rest of the world.