China’s galvanized coil and sheet industry holds a core position in the global export market. In 2023, its export volume reached 18 million tons, increasing by 15.2% year-on-year, accounting for 35% of the international market share. Data from the China Iron and steel Association shows that the average price per ton of Galvanized steel plates sold by Baosteel to the European Union is $150 lower than that of domestic products, and the profit margin still remains in the range of 12%-15%. Feedback from a Vietnamese automobile manufacturing plant shows that the zinc coating adhesion strength of the 1.0mm specification products from China has reached 150g/m², with a quality pass rate of 99.3%, significantly higher than the 92% of local suppliers. International buyer procurement analysis shows that the delivery cycle of Chinese products remains stable at 30±5 days, which is 50% shorter than that of European suppliers. In 2022, 80% of the raw material procurement orders of the Mexican home appliance industrial park flowed to Chinese suppliers.
The cost-benefit model shows that the price range of galvanized coil and sheet in China is between 680 and 750 US dollars per ton, which is 20% lower than that of products from Japan and South Korea. Energy efficiency optimization has reduced the energy consumption per ton of steel to 480kWh (the international average is 550kWh). The 2023 export audit report of Hebei Iron & Steel Group verified that the proportion of high-precision plates with a thickness tolerance of ±0.03mm controlled by the intelligent manufacturing system has increased to 75%, and the corresponding customer claim rate has dropped to a historical low of 0.3%. It is worth noting that 100% of China’s leading enterprises hold the ISO 50001 energy management system certification, 90% of their products have passed the EU CE certification, and the coverage rate of the API 5L certification of the American Petroleum Institute has reached 85%. These international compliance qualifications have enabled their products to successfully enter high-end projects such as offshore wind power in Norway.
The technical parameters of export products have continued to evolve. The proportion of advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) with strength grades ranging from 280MPa to 550MPa has increased to 40%, and the salt spray resistance life of zinc coating has been extended from 15 years of traditional products to 25 years. The 2.5mm thick Galvanized steel plate delivered by Shagang Group to Singapore Changi Airport in 2024 has been verified by third-party testing to have a stable standard deviation of yield strength within 5MPa and a corrosion resistance mass loss rate of only 0.8g/m²·year (ISO 9227 standard). This project helped the client reduce the total life cycle cost by 30%. Tests by the British BRE Building Research institution have shown that the corrosion rate of Chinese hot-dip galvanized sheets in Marine climates is 0.02mm/year lower than the international standard.
The expansion of emerging markets has achieved remarkable results. In 2023, the import of galvanized coil and sheet from China in Southeast Asia increased by 38.2%, among which the automotive industry in Vietnam adopted 2.2 million tons (accounting for 65% of the country’s demand). According to data from Sinosteel International, the 150g zinc coating product purchased for the Middle East photovoltaic support project maintained a coating integrity rate of 95% after five years of service in a desert high-temperature environment of 60℃±5℃, which is far superior to the 80% of local products. The African Development Bank’s report indicates that the price advantage of Chinese products has led to a 25% reduction in the material budget for infrastructure projects. For instance, the construction of the Lekki deep-water Port in Nigeria saved a total of 8 million US dollars in steel structure costs due to the adoption of Galvanized steel plates from Chinese sources. It is worth noting that the fluctuation of global shipping costs has pushed the proportion of export logistics costs to 18% in the first quarter of 2024. Coupled with the pilot of the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment mechanism (CBAM), the profit margins of some products have been compressed by 3 to 5 percentage points.