From the comprehensive annual report and industry data, it can be seen that steel enterprises have shown strong resilience, and the overall profit recovery trend of the industry has become apparent. At the same time, transformation strategies centered on high-end, digitalization, and greening are accelerating their implementation, and China's steel industry is accelerating from scale expansion to high-quality development.

Data shows that as of April 23, 24 listed companies in the steel industry of the A-share market have disclosed their annual reports for 2025. From the comprehensive analysis of the annual reports and industry data, steel enterprises have shown strong resilience, and the overall trend of profit recovery in the industry has become apparent. At the same time, transformation strategies centered on high-end, digitalization, and greening are accelerating, and China's steel industry is accelerating from scale expansion to high-quality development.

Enterprises continuously promote cost reduction and efficiency improvement.

In 2025, the steel industry, with "reducing volume and improving quality, reshaping the structure" as the core, showed the characteristics of profit repair and fluctuating progress, which can be clearly confirmed from both industry macro data and corporate annual reports.

National Bureau of Statistics data show that in 2025, the national output of crude steel was 961 million tons, down 4.4% year-on-year; the output of pig iron was 836 million tons, down 3% year-on-year; the output of steel was 1446 million tons, up 3.1% year-on-year; the apparent consumption of crude steel was 829 million tons, down 7.1% year-on-year.

According to the statistical data of the China Iron and Steel Association, by the end of 2025, the cumulative operating income of key statistical enterprises reached 6.1 trillion RMB, a year-on-year decrease of 3.1%; operating costs were 5.7 trillion RMB, a year-on-year decrease of 4.5%; total profits reached 115.1 billion RMB, an increase of 1.4 times year-on-year, of which the profit from the main business of steel production was 44.5 billion RMB, achieving a profit turn; the average profit rate was 1.9%, an increase of 1.13 percentage points year-on-year.

Looking at the annual reports of steel companies listed on the A-share market, among the steel companies that have disclosed their 2025 annual reports, 10 have seen an increase in net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company, 7 have narrowed their losses, and 2 have turned from losses to profits.

Among them, the net profit attributable to the shareholders of the listed company reached 947 million RMB and 942 million RMB, respectively, an increase of 465.67% and 280.18% year-on-year; Ma'anshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Ma'anshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd.") and Anyang Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. significantly reduced losses, with net losses attributable to the shareholders of the listed company of 209 million RMB and 497 million RMB, respectively, a year-on-year narrowing of 95.52% and 84.81%.

In terms of cost control, many steel enterprises have explicitly stated in their annual reports that they will "deeply tap into the potential for cost reduction", and the achievements in cost reduction and efficiency improvement continue to be reflected. Taking Ma Steel Co., Ltd. as an example, the company focuses on the "four major costs" control core, and manages 706 cost elements and 525 quality elements at the operation area level, achieving a quality cost reduction of 145 million RMB throughout 2025; at the same time, it has set up a special working group for energy management, coordinating the optimization of energy structure and the upgrading of energy-saving technology, achieving an energy cost reduction of 440 million RMB, and reducing the cost per ton of steel by 115 RMB compared to the previous year.

An industry analyst told reporters: "Steel companies have achieved cost reduction and efficiency improvement through refined management and technological upgrading, which not only has solidified the foundation for profit recovery but has also provided support for the continuous improvement of profits in the future."

Accelerating transformation to forge core competitiveness

A-share steel enterprises are taking high-end, digitalization, and greening as the core of transformation, tapping growth potential through technological innovation and management changes, and providing key support for performance repair.

Upgrading has become the key to breaking the deadlock. Overall, steel enterprises have generally accelerated the adjustment of product structure, reduced the inefficient capacity of ordinary steel, focused on the layout of high-value-added products in fields such as shipbuilding, new energy vehicles, and nuclear power, and accelerated the transformation to "fine steel" and "special steel".

For example, Anshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. has strengthened the research and development of high-priced, high-profit high-end products and new products, and the sales volume of "6+N" high-end products in 2025 increased by 3.2 percentage points year-on-year. Among them, green steel products have officially entered the stage of large-scale application, and have been certified by 16 car companies and passed on-site audits by 7 customers.

Wang Guoqing, director of the Lang Steel Research Center, told reporters: "Steel companies need to further optimize their profit margins. The key lies in exploring the market for high-value-added products, focusing on the development of steel for new energy vehicles, high-end equipment materials, and other fields with growing demand, to boost the overall competitiveness of the industry."

At the same time, the industry's intelligent transformation has entered a period of implementation and results. Take Hunan Huarong Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. as an example, the company has deeply promoted the construction of digitalization, and by 2025, 46 AI large model application scenarios will be launched, and a total of 261 sets of robots have been applied to the main business of steel.

Green transformation is advancing in tandem. As a highly energy-intensive industry, the steel industry has made remarkable progress in its ultra-low emission transformation. Data from the China Iron and Steel Association shows that by the end of 2025, China's steel industry has successfully completed its ultra-low emission transformation project, with more than 80% of its crude steel production capacity achieving ultra-low emissions. Take Gansu Baosteel Group Hongxing Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. as an example, the company completed 14 ultra-low emission transformation projects in 2025, and the "Surplus Coal Gas Comprehensive Utilization Energy-Saving and Carbon-Reduction Project" was successfully put into operation, effectively reducing the carbon emission intensity.

Looking forward to the development trend of the steel industry in 2026, Fu Yifu, a special researcher of Su Shang Bank, told the reporter of the interview: "It is expected that the demand for the steel industry will recover moderately in 2026; the price trend may show a range of fluctuations, supported by costs and constrained by supply and demand balance; the space for profit repair depends on multiple factors such as supply and demand relationship, cost control and transformation effect."

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