On the east side of the square, 16 small, traditional molds for ingot casting stand in four rows, accompanied by a steel ladle. Again they are real items from Shagang’s long history. Shagang started its own steel making operation in October 1976 with a 3 ton electric arc furnace. Later, a couple of 20 ton furnaces were installed, followed by a complete mini-mill with a 75t arc furnace, which was praised as “an example of the third revolution in China’s steel industry”. After this a series of ever larger arc furnaces (90t, 100t) were installed, all having the most advanced technology. Shagang then became the biggest EAF-based steel maker in China.  Given these achievements, Shagang completed a strategic transformation, from being a long product maker to a flat one, from being EAF-based to having an integrated mill combined with mini-mills. The story continues …
Background: The board of directors was formed in February 2006, when a series of M&A transaction activities were conducted. Companies like Huaigang Steel, Henan Anyang Yongxin Steel and Jiangsu Xingrui Special Steel became part of Shagang Group. At the same time, Shagang made an equity deal with Jiangsu Yongliang Steel. The Shagang International Trading Co. was established. The sales revenue of Shagang Group in 2007 was more than RMB100 billion, with over RMB10 billion in profit and RMB14.5 billion in tax. In the same year, as a core part of the “11th 5-Year Plan”, the No. 2 plate mill project, Ronsheng BOF project and the new hot strip mill project were started. This was done with the aim of restructuring product, saving energy and reducing emissions. However, economic problems such as the financial crisis of 2008 could not be avoided. The steel industry was hit hard. Even so, Shagang still managed to achieve RMB145.2 billion of revenue and generated RMB14.8 billion of profit and taxes, on the back of an efficiently run operation and sound growth.