After the collapse of steel prices, why do steel mills lay off workers and expand steel mills?
Since 2022, the steel market has taken a sharp turn for the worse, and with the decline in the global economic situation, the steel industry has also been greatly impacted. Steel companies are under enormous pressure. Steel prices plummeted, raw material costs rose, steel companies profit a large area of decline loss steel prices from the highest price of 4,880 yuan per ton in 2022, plummeted to the lowest of 3,300 yuan per ton in 2023, a plunge of 1,580 yuan per ton; Many iron and steel enterprises are operating in difficulties, forced to lay off employees to save themselves, and the number of workers in the steel industry has plummeted by more than 120,000 people in 13 months! Weak market demand at home and abroad, serious excess steel production capacity, and high production and operating costs are called the "three mountains" that are currently under pressure from steel companies in the industry. The "three mountains" have pushed the steel industry to the edge of a cliff.
The main factors affecting steel consumption are housing construction, infrastructure and machinery manufacturing, of which housing construction accounts for nearly half. Since last year, due to the continuous adjustment of real estate investment, construction and sales market, the sales and profits of upstream steel enterprises have been greatly affected. Excess production is excess on the high point, lack of demand is also insufficient at the low point of the economy, the huge contrast caused by the decline in steel prices, so that many steel companies can not afford. According to statistics, as of the first half of 2023, the total assets of the 50 listed steel enterprises were 2375.885 billion yuan, the total liabilities were 1328.837 billion yuan, and the average asset-liability ratio was 49.12%, with an average year-on-year increase of 1.09%. Among them, there are 8 steel enterprises asset-liability ratio between 60% and 70%, respectively, Liusteel, Citic Special Steel, general spec
