Steel Structure Industry Market Analysis

Definition and Classification of Steel Structure

Steel structure is a form of building structure mainly made of steel plates, steel sections, steel pipes, steel cables and other steel materials, which are connected by welds, bolts or rivets. Compared with other structural forms such as reinforced concrete structure, masonry and other masonry structures, steel structure not only has the advantages of high strength, light weight, plasticity, toughness and good seismic performance, and is suitable for mechanized processing, high degree of industrialization, short construction period. As few materials such as cement, sand and gravel are used, environmental pollution problems such as dust, construction waste and noise are greatly reduced, which is in line with the requirements of sustainable development.

As one of the most important forms of building structure, steel structure is widely used in housing construction, machinery, energy, municipal facilities and other industries. There is no uniform standard for the classification method of steel structure, and it can be divided into equipment steel structure (sealed pressure vessel steel structure, tower mast steel structure, ship marine steel structure, water conservancy steel structure, coal and electric power steel structure, brazing tool and brazing steel, underground steel structure, etc.), building heavy steel structure (high-rise steel structure, heavy factory building, etc.), building light steel structure (light factory building, steel structure residence, etc.), bridge steel structure, space steel structure, bridge steel structure, space steel structure, etc.

1. Equipment Steel Structure Market

Equipment steel structure is an important branch of heavy equipment manufacturing industry, and the development speed of equipment steel structure is closely related to the industrial development speed. Equipment steel structure has a wide range of types and applications, which are mainly applied to special buildings, equipment racks and supports (e.g. cement kiln tail, power and communication towers), boiler steel frames (power boilers and other boiler towers), and special equipment towers (oil pipelines, ocean platforms, port equipment, chemical equipment) in the industrial field.

The growth rate of national industrial added value is stable, and it is expected that the future market demand for equipment steel structure will maintain a stable development space, and the application of equipment steel structure is expected to continue to grow as the market's recognition of equipment steel structure continues to improve. With the expansion of the investment scale of strategic emerging industries such as “new infrastructure”, the construction of extra high voltage and 5G base station involving steel structure demand will bring potential growth demand for steel structure industry. In the medium and long term, the favorable policy has opened a huge growth space, and the infrastructure growth rate may enter a higher platform period. From the relevant policies, on the one hand, the supply side of the revitalization of the supply of land and capital, on the other hand, in the demand side of the national strategy to provide certainty for infrastructure demand.

2. The construction heavy steel structure market

As of the end of 2018, there were 117 super high-rise buildings over 250m under construction in China. Ultra-high-rise buildings under construction were mainly concentrated in 250~300m and 300~400m, with 48 (41%) and 54 (46%) respectively.There were 5 ultra-high-rise buildings above 500m under construction. The materials used in super high-rise buildings are mainly steel-concrete mixed structure, totaling 229 buildings (75%), and there are 17 pure steel structures above 250 m, accounting for about 6%.

In foreign countries, steel structure accounts for more than 85% of buildings above 200 m. The United States and Japan are the countries that adopt the most steel structure in high-rise buildings. China's urbanization construction still has more space (from the development experience of other countries in the world, after the per capita GDP reaches 10,000 US dollars and the urbanization rate reaches 60%, there will be at least another 10 to 15 years of faster urbanization development period). During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's urbanization will better support the demand for high-rise heavy steel structure of urban public buildings.

3. Building light steel structure market

Building light steel structure is mainly used in light industrial plant buildings, steel structure residential and so on. The development speed of industrial plant buildings is closely related to the scale of industrial development. China's national economic development is sustained, stable growth of the good situation with certainty, the application of steel structure in the field of industrial plant will maintain a sustained growth trend.

In terms of steel structure residence, our country is far away from the level of developed countries. Foreign low-rise light steel residential system has been more mature, the United States, Japan, Australia and other countries have long been widely used in low-rise residential light steel structure, Japan built a large number of steel buildings in more than 90% of the 5 layer and the following low-rise buildings, light steel structure in Australia, the market share of 15%, some areas of Europe have also adopted the township type steel structure residential.

China's steel structure has been widely used in the field of super-high-rise, large-span space structure and industrial plant, and the steel structure design theory, norms and standards, and construction technology are also very mature. With the acceleration of the development process of industrialization of construction industrialization and steel structure residential industry, and with the boosting of the top-level design and industrial policies of the country, the assembled steel structure building will enter into the stage of comprehensive speeding up, and the assembled steel structure residential building will have a wider application and development prospect. In 2020, two of the nine major tasks deployed in the national housing and urban-rural construction work involve assembled steel structure houses. From the viewpoint of urbanization rate, according to the current urbanization rate of 60%, China's housing new construction area still has some room for development. According to the Key Tasks for New Urbanization Construction in 2019 released in 2019, the state requires in-depth promotion of city cluster development, with Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area becoming the key areas for the country's strategic development, and there are another 10 major city clusters being mentioned at the same time. We believe that the construction of central city clusters will drive infrastructure and real estate investment in all regions of the country in the medium to long term. Along with the further increase of urbanization rate, the market space of steel structure housing will be further expanded.

Bridge Steel Structure Market

The road transportation market has a large demand for steel structure in the field of railroad, highway, urban transportation and bridge. Modern high-speed railroad construction requires high impact resistance and high leveling of the roadbed, and recently, most of the newly built high-speed railroads in China have adopted elevated design and steel structure as the main structure of elevated bridges. With the acceleration of China's urbanization process, the country's major cities have begun a new round of infrastructure construction, which requires the construction of a large number of overpasses, viaducts, water bridges, footbridges and rail transit.

China's investment in the field of transportation infrastructure such as railroads, highways, bridges, etc. will give a greater impetus to the development of bridge steel structure, and the demand for bridge steel structure market will grow significantly in the next few years. According to the 2011-2019 Ministry of Transportation and Communications “Transportation Industry Development Statistics Bulletin”, China's average annual compound growth rate of the scale of investment in highway construction from 2011 to 2019 was 7.2%.In 2019, the country's new road and highway construction of 166,000 kilometers, the cumulative mileage of the highway reached 5,013,000 kilometers, of which the new expressway 0.7 million kilometers, the cumulative mileage of the highway reached 149,600 kilometers. The number of highway bridges increased from 689,400 in 2011 to 878,000 in 2019; among them, mega bridges increased from 2,341 in 2011 to 5,716 in 2019, an increase of 144.2%. In terms of railroads, China's railroad construction has entered the rapid development stage of high-speed railroads since the construction of the “Four Longitudinal and Four Horizontal” Railway Rapid Passenger Corridors and the three intercity rapid passenger transportation systems started one after another. The infrastructure projects of high-speed railways mostly use steel elevated bridges as the road base, and the investment in railroad infrastructure will also tend to choose steel structure bridge projects.

Space Steel Structure Market

Space steel structure is mainly used in various large venues, including stadiums, exhibition halls, conference halls, activity centers, airport terminals, stations and other large public buildings. Steel is easy to realize larger continuous space structures and design diversification due to its light self-weight, high strength, and plasticity, which gives steel structure a more significant competitive advantage in the field of airport and other arena buildings.In March 2017, the Development and Reform Commission (DRC) and the Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) issued the Notice on Issuing the Layout Plan for National Civil Transportation Airports, which planned that the number of China's transportation airports would reach about 260 by 2020, and that the number would be improve the six major airport clusters in North China, Northeast China, East China, Central and South China, Southwest China and Northwest China; by 2025, 136 new airports will be laid out on the basis of the existing airports (including the airports under construction), and the planned layout of the nation's civil transportation airports will be 370 (with about 320 airports planned to be built). It is expected that during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the country will strengthen the construction of infrastructure such as airports, which will boost the demand for steel structures.

In terms of hospitals, schools and other public buildings, in September 2020, the Ministry of Housing and Construction and other 9 departments issued opinions to accelerate the development of new building industrialization, “to encourage hospitals, schools and other public buildings to give priority to the use of steel structure, and actively promote the construction of steel structure residential and agricultural buildings”, many places have also introduced relevant policies, such as Beijing to encourage the use of steel structure in schools, hospitals, gymnasiums, shopping malls, office buildings, and other public buildings, to encourage the use of steel structure. For example, Beijing encourages schools, hospitals, gymnasiums, shopping malls, office buildings and other new public buildings to give priority to the use of steel structure buildings, in which the government invests in new public buildings with a single above-ground floor area of 10,000 square meters (inclusive) or more should be used in steel structure buildings.