China needs to reduce the production of steel by more than 90 million tons compared to the level of 2024 in order to achieve climatic goals in the industry this year. This is stated in the study
if the country this year does not reach the production goal of 15% steel in electric arc furnaces, this will increase CO2 emissions by more than 160 million tons, which is almost equivalent to the carbon trace of the steel sector of the whole of Europe. The actual share remains unchanged at the level of about 10% more than ten years.
China is significantly lags behind world competitors in terms of steel production in EAF. The average global indicator is about 30%, in the USA-71.8%, in India-58.8%, in Japan-26.2%..
from 2021 to the first half of the 2025th, the use of domain furnaces in China increased from 85.6%to 88.6%, while electric-arcal ones fell from 58.9%to 48.6%.
Although the Green Politics is offered by support, manufacturers using EAF based on scrap are in disadvantage due to high energy costs, unreliable supplies of raw materials and growing financial losses. This led to a mass stop of the factory operation and at least one bankruptcy in mid -2025.
recently China liberalized the import of scrap. However, last year it was halved, which significantly prevents the profitability of steel production in electric arcs.
strategy for reducing production with a high level of emissions and containing excess capacities will not only solve the structural problems of the sector, but also weaken the global tension.
