This is a trajectory spanning 27 years across five continents, and it is also a forwardlooking journey that aligns with national strategies and connects the world with the power of steel.

“Shagang has always kept pace with China’s opening-up strategy. We have actively responded to the Belt and Road Initiative, leveraged both domestic and international markets, continuously enhanced our core competitiveness and sustainable development capabilities, and delivered high-quality products and services to customers worldwide,” said Shen Bin, the Party Secretary and Chairman of Shagang Group.

Guided by this clear strategic vision, Shagang’s journey of internationalization has yielded remarkable achievements. Since its first shipment of 500 tons of wire rod set sail in 1999, Shagang has exported more than 60 million tons of steel over 27 years, with “Made by Shagang” now present in over 100 countries and regions. “With our steadily rising export figures, Shagang has engraved a profound imprint on the internationalization of China’s steel industry and on the grand picture of the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation,” Shen Bin said.

Riding Waves to Embrace the World: 60 Million Tons Forging Shagang’s Path to a Global Brand

“International development stands as one of the most iconic chapters in Shagang’s growth,” Shen Bin said.

In the 1990s, the wave of economic globalization swept across the world, and China’s steel industry stood at a critical juncture: shifting from scale expansion to quality upgrading, and from the domestic market to the global market. Back then, self-operated exports by private steel enterprises were rare in China. With pioneering courage, Shagang took a decisive step to embrace the world. In 1999, a vessel carrying 500 tons of high-quality wire rod departed from Shagang’s wharf and successfully entered the Korean market. This marked not only Shagang’s first breakthrough in self-operated exports and export earnings but also the prelude to large-scale overseas expansion by China’s private steel enterprises.

In 2002, Jiangsu Shagang International Trade Co., Ltd. was formally established, and was accredited as an import-export enterprise of the People’s Republic of China, ushering Shagang’s foreign trade into a new era of systematic, standardized, and professional development. With this starting point, Shagang accelerated its global layout: subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia were set up one after another, while overseas offices were established in Milan, Seoul, Dubai, the Americas, and beyond. A global marketing and service network, offering extensive coverage, rapid response, and tailored services, gradually took shape. Up to now, Shagang’s international trade and sales network covers more than 100 countries and regions, making it one of China’s most globally established steel enterprises.

“Over 27 years of going global, Shagang’s foreign trade development has been a story of continuous optimization of product mix and improvement of high-end positioning,” Shen Bin observed. Starting with the initial single products of wire rod and rebar, Shagang has built a full product portfolio of 7 major series and over 700 grades, including wire rod, slab, wide and thick plate, high-grade pipeline steel, silicon steel, and ultra-thin strip. Shagang’s export products have achieved a fundamental leap from basic construction materials to core steels for high-end manufacturing.

Shagang has remained an industry leader in high-end product R&D and industrialization. In 2001, Shagang relocated the entire Phoenix Steel Works of Thyssenkrupp in Germany to the bank of the Yangtze River, setting a record as Europe’s largest industrial relocation after World War II and achieving a leap-forward upgrade in equipment and product quality. In 2019, China’s first Castrip production line was successfully put into operation at Shagang. After several years of technological iteration and market expansion, Shagang built the world’s largest and most technologically advanced thin strip casting and rolling base in 2024. With core advantages of light weight, high strength and low carbon footprint, Shagang’s ultra-thin strip products have rapidly opened up the global market, becoming a flagship export category for China’s high-end steel products.

In order to gain access to the global market, Shagang has continued to promote the construction of an international product certification system based on the world’s highest standards. In 2007, Shagang’s rebar passed CARES (Certification Authority for Reinforcing Steel) certification, securing a key entry pass to Europe’s high-end infrastructure market. Over the following decade, Shagang acquired dozens of internationally recognized certifications, meeting market access requirements of major global economies.

Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s tallest skyscraper, has its steel backbone forged by 200,000 tons of high-quality rebar supplied by Shagang; Pelješac Bridge in Croatia fulfilled the local people’s century-old dream of connecting the northern and southern territories with its piling steel supplied by Shagang; the China-Laos Railway, a route of friendship and development Shagang rebar has been strengthened by Shagang rebar; Abu Dhabi International Airport in the United Arab Emirates, oil pipelines in Mexico and Venezuela, natural gas pipelines in India, and more. After 27 years of deep cultivation and with a cumulative steel export volume of 60 million tons, “Made by Shagang” has taken firm root in the global market.

Quality as Foundation, Service as Wing: Building Core Competitiveness in the Global Market

“In the context of intensifying competition in the global steel market, rising trade protectionism, and growing barriers of green trade, Shagang has maintained its global standing and steady export growth. The core secret lies in our unwavering commitment to ‘Quality as Foundation, Service as Priority,’ enabling a fundamental transformation and upgrading from selling products to providing full-chain steel material solutions,” Shen Bin said.

As one of the few global steel enterprises with a full industrial chain covering both common and special steels, Shagang has built a new “Five-Wing” development pattern for special steel, integrating Shagang Steel, Huaigang Special Steel, Dongbei Special Steel, Fushun Special Steel, and Yongxing Special Steel. This has created a unique core advantage of “Synergized Development of Common Steel and Special Steel, Full-range Coverage, and High-end Breakthroughs,” achieving full coverage of the global market from civil infrastructure to high-end manufacturing and from conventional products to cutting-edge materials.

In the export of high-end special steel, Shagang has been continuously making breakthroughs in key core technologies, integrating its products into the core supply chains of the world’s top manufacturers.

Collaborating with Safran Group of France in developing 300M steel for aircraft landing gears, jointly developing steel for wind power transmission system with ZF Group, and as a core supplier to Baker Hughes, supplying the corrosion-resistant alloys and stainless steel products that are widely used in major oil and gas regions across the Middle East Southeast Asia, and beyond,  Fushun Special Steel has achieved international breakthroughs in cutting-edge materials in the three global high-end manufacturing tracks of aerospace, new energy and wind power, and oil and gas exploration.

As a main force in Shagang’s special steel going global, Dongbei Special Steel produces bearing steel, automotive steel, and other products that have passed certifications by numerous globally renowned enterprises and obtained top industry qualifications. Several products have replaced high-end imported materials from European, American, and Japanese suppliers, successfully entering the supply chains of leading global enterprises in automotive, wind power, and equipment manufacturing.

Over 50 years of development, Huaigang Special Steel, a core production base for Shagang’s high-quality special steels, has had seven major product series exported across Southeast Asia and become a key support for Shagang’s deep engagement in this core market.

While exceptional product quality serves as Shagang’s key to the global market, superior service is its anchor for retaining customers and deepening cooperation. For 27 years, Shagang has always adhered to the business philosophy of "Customer First, Service First", delivering attentive service and building trust in every detail of collaboration.

Since sending its first delegation to the Republic of Korea in 2007 as the first step in the proactive strategy of international sales, Shagang has visited Europe, the Americas, Africa, East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and other regions to understand end-user needs firsthand; maintained exclusive service files for each customer, and offered customized product and service solutions; registered trademarks in 12 overseas countries and hosted numerous overseas customer appreciation events and market development seminars, going the extra mile to bridge distances with customers and strengthening partnerships with sincerity.

Aiming at Excellence, Embarking on a New Journey: Writing a New Chapter of High-Quality Development with a Global Strategy

Currently, the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century, the global economic landscape, industrial system, and trade rules are undergoing profound restructuring. International development is the only way for Chinese steel enterprises to become world-class.

“Anchored by the vision of building a century-old Shagang with lasting foundations, Shagang will focus on strategic directions including high-end upgrading, green transformation, digital and intelligent empowerment, industrial chain synergy, international expansion, and diversified exploration, systematically build Shagang’s sustainable competitive advantages in the global steel industry,” Shen Bin clearly outlined Shagang’s future development.

Shagang’s 11th Five-Year Plan proposes a core shift from the traditional scale orientation to value and ecological orientation, fully promoting high-quality development of export business.

In product upgrading, Shagang will continue to shape a pyramid-style product portfolio, concentrating resources on cutting-edge products such as high-temperature alloys for aerospace, high-end tool and die steel, premium automotive steel, and high-grade non-grain-oriented silicon steel. It will further increase the share of high-value-added and high-tech steel grades in exports, making high-end, green, and low-carbon products Shagang’s new business card overseas.

In global layout, Shagang will accelerate the construction of an integrated “1+4+N” global marketing network, that is, with Shagang International Trade as the command center, establishing four regional overseas sales centers covering Japan and the ROK, Southeast and South Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and Europe and the Americas, and also strategically developing overseas processing and distribution centers, moving service capabilities closer to customers and achieving a profound transformation from business going global to globalized capabilities.

Standing at a new historical milestone with cumulative exports exceeding 60 million tons, Shagang will continue to deeply integrate into the Belt and Road Initiative, embrace the world with openness and inclusiveness, serve customers with excellent quality, lead development with relentless innovation, and work alongside partners to inject sustained “Shagang Strength” into the high-quality development of global manufacturing.