Introduction of Rizhao Steel Holding Group Co., Ltd. (Rizhao steel)

Rizhao Steel – Overview & Highlights

Who They Are

• Rizhao Steel Holding Group Co., Ltd., founded in 2003, has grown into one of China’s leading producers of high-quality thin and wide strip steel, with a current crude steelmaking capacity of approximately 18.95 million tons.

• The company is a major player in Shandong Province’s steel industry, often ranked among the top-tier national steel enterprises.

Business and Products

Rizhao Steel has established a complete industrial chain encompassing raw material terminals, sintering, ironmaking, steelmaking, and rolling. Its main businesses include:

Main Products:

• Plate: Hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil, galvanized sheet, etc., widely used in the automotive, home appliance, machinery manufacturing, and container industries.
• Steel: H-beams, I-beams, angles, etc., primarily used in construction, bridges, and steel structures.
• Bars: Rebar, wire rod, and other construction steel products.

Technological Leadership: ESP Production

• Rizhao Steel holds 5 state-of-the-art Arvedi Endless Strip Production (ESP) lines, making it the largest ESP production base globally.

• These lines can produce ultra-thin hot-rolled strip as thin as 0.6 mm, setting world records in strip thickness and pushing boundaries in high-quality steel production.

• The ESP technology greatly enhances energy efficiency—reducing energy consumption by up to 45% compared to traditional methods—and significantly lowers CO₂ emissions thanks to its compact and integrated design.

Smart & Sustainable Manufacturing

• Rizhao Steel is advancing towards a fully automated “one-button steelmaking” process, in collaboration with Primetals Technologies. This entails integrated process control systems for converters, furnaces, and gas monitoring, enabling smarter, more efficient operations.

• The company is recognized as a National Model for patent conversion in the steel industry, spearheading innovation with ESP technologies, high-strength lightweight steels, and hot-rolled replacements for cold-rolled products.

Product Innovation & Quality Expansion

• Rizhao Steel recently made significant advances in automotive-grade dual-phase steel, achieving trial production of 0.7 × 1384 mm cold-rolled dual-phase steel and stable batch delivery of 1.58 × 1720 mm galvanized dual-phase steel—marking a breakthrough in rolling precision and product performance.

Green Development & Corporate Responsibility

• The company has consistently been honored as a National-Level Green Factory, a testament to its rigorous focus on clean production, resource utilization, and low-carbon strategies.

• Investments exceeding ¥5.8 billion have supported over 268 ultra-low emission projects, the transition to clean transportation (with 82% clean vehicle ratio), and expanded green coverage on its premises.

• Rizhao Steel is also deeply active in philanthropy—having contributed over ¥1 billion in support of charitable causes such as poverty alleviation, healthcare, and education.

Corporate Expansion & Infrastructure Upgrades

• In 2022, it acquired a 51% controlling stake in Zibo Qilinfushan Iron & Steel, boosting its overall capacity.

• A capacity replacement plan (Phase II) has already been approved: the company will dismantle aging facilities (8.3 Mtpa iron-making, 1.7 Mtpa steelmaking) and build new, more efficient furnaces (7.5 Mtpa blast furnace and 1.35 Mtpa rotating furnace), expected to be operational by 2026.

• Routine operations include periodic maintenances, such as the scheduled shutdown of a 5,100 m³ blast furnace from Feb–Apr 2025—affecting daily output.

Summary Table