Hot rolled coil use, classification and application

What is hot rolled coil?

Hot rolled coils are steel sheets that are made of slabs as raw materials and are rolled by rough rolling and finishing mills after heating.

My country is the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of hot-rolled coil, with an output of 232 million tons in 2015. The development of the iron and steel industry has effectively supported the stable and rapid development of my country's national economy, and the improvement in the output and quality of hot-rolled coils has also better satisfied the growing actual needs of my country's construction, machinery manufacturing and other industries.

The main purpose of hot steel rolling mill coil

Hot-rolled coil is an important type of steel, which mainly reflects the needs of industrialization. It has excellent properties such as high strength, good toughness, easy processing and good weldability, and is widely used in ships, automobiles, bridges, construction, machinery, pressure vessels and other manufacturing industries.

The main classification of hot mill coil

Hot rolled coils generally include medium and thick wide steel strips, hot rolled thin wide steel strips and hot rolled sheets. Medium-thick and wide steel strip is the most representative variety, and its output accounts for about two-thirds of the total output of hot-rolled coil. The subject matter of the hot-rolled coil futures contract to be listed on the Shanghai Futures Exchange belongs to China. Thick and wide steel strip.

Medium-thick and wide steel strips refer to steel strips with a thickness of ≥3 mm and less than 20 mm and a width of ≥600 mm, which are produced by continuous wide-band hot rolling mills or furnace rolling mills and delivered in coils.

Hot-rolled thin and wide steel strip refers to the steel strip with thickness < 3 mm and width ≥ 600 mm, which is produced by continuous wide-band hot rolling mill or furnace coil rolling mill or thin slab continuous rolling and delivered in coil form.

Hot-rolled sheet refers to a single sheet of steel with a thickness of <3 mm. Hot-rolled sheet is usually produced by equipment such as continuous wide-band steel rolling mill, continuous casting and rolling of thin slab, and delivered in sheet form.

Production capacity and regional distribution of hot rolling steel coil

According to statistics, by the end of 2015, my country had a total of 73 sets of hot-rolled coil mills with a production capacity of 232 million tons. In terms of sub-regions, North China is the region with the largest production capacity of hot-rolled coils in China, with a total of 27 sets of hot-rolled coils with a production capacity of 78.6 million tons, accounting for 34% of the total domestic production capacity; there are 19 sets of hot-rolled coils in East China.

The production capacity is 59.8 million tons, accounting for 26% of the total domestic production capacity; there are 11 sets of hot-rolled coiling lines in Northeast China, with a production capacity of 40.85 million tons, accounting for 18% of the total domestic production capacity; there are 7 sets of hot-rolled coiling lines in central China, with a production capacity of 2450 10,000 tons, accounting for 10% of the total domestic production capacity; there are 3 sets of hot-rolled coiling mills in South China, with a production capacity of 12.5 million tons, accounting for 5% of the total domestic energy difference; there are 4 sets of hot-rolled coiling mills in Southwest China, with a production capacity of 9.75 million tons, accounting for 4% of the total domestic production capacity; there are 2 sets of hot-rolled coiling lines in the northwest region, with a production capacity of 6.2 million tons, accounting for 3% of the total domestic production capacity.

Downstream classification of hot rolling steel coil

In terms of industries, the downstream demand for hot-rolled coils is mainly in the following industries:

1. Building steel structure plate

After years of development, the domestic building steel structure industry has become a large-scale industry, with an annual consumption of hot coils ranging from 3 to 4 million tons. Steel structures are widely used in high-rise buildings, airports, stadiums, exhibition halls and other buildings. There are two main uses of hot coils in the manufacture of steel structures: one is for welded structural pipes; the other is for open flat plates, and at the same time, the thickness of more than 6mm is used to replace some of the middle plates. 

North China and East China are areas where the domestic construction steel structure industry is relatively dense. Among them, Hangzhou and Xiaoshan area in East China is the largest steel structure manufacturing distribution center in the country, and its output accounts for more than 50% of the domestic production. There are more than 100 large and small steel structure factories in Xiaoshan area. Xiao Steel Structure is the largest construction steel structure manufacturer in the country, and the output of other manufacturers such as Baoye, Seiko and Dadi are among the best in China.

Since the steel structure industry is made to order, the proportion of hot coils is small and the monthly consumption is not fixed. Therefore, manufacturers in the steel structure industry generally adopt the direct supply of medium and heavy plate raw materials from steel mills, and the purchase of hot coil raw materials through dealers.

2. Plate for welded pipe

Coiled plates are used in the welded pipe industry to weld large diameter (above 800mm) spiral and straight seam steel pipes. As all major domestic pipe networks have been constructed and formed, large welded pipes have gradually cooled down in recent years after years of heat consumption. At present, various steel pipe factories generally have insufficient operating rates and unstable raw material orders. The consumption of hot coils in this industry is declining year by year. Trend, the annual consumption is about 1.5 to 2 million tons.

3. Shipbuilding board

Hot coils are all used in buildings above the deck in shipbuilding, so the requirements for product and Kaiping quality are not high. Due to the convenient transportation by river and sea, East China is a densely populated area of domestic shipbuilding industry. There are more than 300 large and small shipyards, mainly concentrated in Taizhou, Ningbo and Zhoushan Islands. The annual consumption of HRC is about 1.2 million tons.

4. General structural panels for automobiles and agricultural vehicles

General structural plates for automobiles are mainly concentrated in domestic truck manufacturing enterprises, such as FAW Group and its affiliated enterprises, accessories manufacturers, supplying various general structural steels for trucks, and the total domestic consumption in 2005 is about 500,000 tons.

In the production of agricultural vehicles, hot coils are mainly used in the cargo box floor of tricycles, tractors and other vehicles, and are concentrated in three specifications of thickness 1.5mm, 1.8mm and 2.0mm, of which the consumption of hot coils with thicknesses of 1.5mm and 1.8mm accounts for more than 80%. . Since there are very few domestic manufacturers of hot coils with a thickness of less than 2.0mm, the procurement of manufacturers is currently mainly imported. As the largest agricultural vehicle production base in the country, Shandong Province has many large agricultural vehicle groups such as Juli, Heibao, Shifeng, and Foton. The annual consumption of domestic agricultural vehicle HRC is about 300,000 tons.

5. Boards for other industries

In addition to the concentrated consumption of hot-rolled coils in the above industries, the consumption of hot-rolled coils is the largest in other industries such as machinery manufacturing, container manufacturing, maintenance, hardware accessories and other industries, but it is also the most scattered. According to statistics, the consumption in these industries is the largest. About 16 million tons of HRC are distributed through distributors.

The consumption of hot-rolled coils in various small and medium-sized industries is mainly concentrated in coastal areas, especially in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions. Wanjia, through the processing and distribution of dealers, more than 50% of hot coil consumption is concentrated in these industries, and other areas such as Ningbo are the largest manufacturing bases of plastic machines and cabinets in the country, and hot coil consumption also accounts for a considerable proportion.