Recently, the Department of Industrial Development under the National Development and Reform Commission released an article titled “Vigorously Promoting the Optimization and Upgrading of Traditional Industries.” The article systematically summarizes the positive progress made in the transformation and upgrading of China's traditional industries during the 14th Five-Year Plan period and clearly outlines the key development directions for the raw materials sector during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.

The article notes that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China achieved significant progress in restructuring traditional industries and enhancing energy efficiency. By the end of 2024, the proportion of benchmark energy-efficient production capacity in major high-energy-consuming industries increased by 6 percentage points compared to 2020. Among these, comprehensive energy consumption per unit of output in key sectors such as steel and cement clinker has reached world-leading levels, while energy consumption in critical processes like coking and blast furnace operations has continued to decline.

Looking ahead to the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the Department of Industrial Development emphasizes that promoting high-quality development in raw material industries such as steel and petrochemicals hinges on achieving dynamic equilibrium between supply and demand alongside structural optimization. Currently, the sector still faces structural challenges including mismatches between supply and demand and insufficient supply of high-end products. Moving forward, efforts will continue to deepen supply-side structural reforms, with coordinated efforts on both the supply and demand sides:

First, optimize the production capacity structure by focusing on increasing the effective supply of high-end, green, and high-value-added products to drive comprehensive upgrading of the product portfolio.

Second, strengthen aggregate control by continuing to implement policies regulating crude steel output, maintaining an appropriate overall scale, and promoting fundamental balance between supply and demand.

Third, enforce strict industry management by resolutely curbing the addition of non-compliant new capacity, strengthening constraints on energy conservation and consumption reduction, and accelerating the survival of the fittest through market-based and legal means.

The release of this policy signal further clarifies that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the steel industry will continue to adhere to the development principles of “total volume control, structural optimization, and green and low-carbon development.” This provides policy support to drive the industry toward achieving effective qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth.