China's cold heading steel industry has achieved certain results over years of production and manufacturing, but there is still a gap compared to countries like Europe, America, and Japan. According to the usage characteristics and quality requirements of cold heading steel, corresponding smelting processes and rolling procedures should be formulated, and various quality and technical standards should be strictly controlled. Cooperation with other advanced enterprises, research units, or institutions should be pursued to overcome various quality and technical challenges, and to research and develop new processes, equipment, materials, and standards to produce higher-quality cold heading steel.

　　Cold heading steel is generally low- and medium-carbon high-quality carbon structural steel and high-quality alloy structural steel, used to cold-form various mechanical standard parts and fasteners. It is a type of steel used to produce high-standard parts, non-standard parts, and shaped parts using cold heading forming technology under room temperature conditions. The key to smelting cold heading steel is to improve the cleanliness of the molten steel and reduce the contamination of non-metallic inclusions. Maintaining the final carbon content of the molten steel within the specified range is a major measure to reduce the degree of oxidation and reduce the contamination of non-metallic inclusions in the molten steel.

　　Currently, the equipment manufacturing industry in the cold heading steel industry is relatively backward, but with the improvement of the technical level of the cold heading steel industry, the equipment manufacturing industry can be expected to achieve technological breakthroughs. The improvement of the level of various industries will create more opportunities for the cold heading steel industry and achieve healthy development.

　　Current Market Development Status of China's Cold Heading Steel Industry

　　China is the world's largest producer and consumer of steel, accounting for more than half of the global share. Steel industry carbon emissions account for about 15% of the country's total carbon emissions, making it the industry with the largest carbon emissions among the 31 categories of manufacturing industries. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that the national crude steel output in 2022 was 1.018 billion tons, a year-on-year decrease of 1.7%. Luo Tiejun analyzed that since China's crude steel output reached a peak of 1.065 billion tons in 2020, it has fallen for two consecutive years. On the surface, it is due to production restrictions, but in reality, it is caused by a decline in downstream demand.

　　With the development of industries such as new energy vehicles, high-frequency transformer components, and green steel, the cold heading steel industry has performed well. According to the national production capacity scale, the annual output of cold heading steel products exceeds 800 million tons. Compared with previous years, high-precision cold heading steel products are currently being produced, and the quality of cold heading steel products continues to be improved in the production process of stretching, overall polishing pipes, and heat treatment equipment, providing a richer product structure for the market and responding promptly to market demand for cold heading steel products, ensuring a sufficient and stable market supply.

　　Due to clear government support and the development of domestic and international relations, the heavy resource-intensive marine charging industry in the cold heading steel industry has flourished in 2023. Due to the important role played by the ocean, there will be more applications in the future, and the cold heading steel industry will also benefit from this. According to the plan, by 2023, the heavy resource-intensive marine charging industry will develop more widely and resource development will be further advanced, which will also drive the rapid development of the entire cold heading steel industry. With the country's emphasis on and policy support for the manufacturing industry, the future cold heading steel market will continue to grow. Especially in high-end manufacturing fields such as automotive parts manufacturing and medical device manufacturing, the demand for precision molds and high-quality cold heading steel will become increasingly large. In addition, with the continuous development of new material technologies, the cold heading steel market will have more innovation and transformation, and will develop in the direction of high performance, high quality, and green environmental protection.

　　Development Suggestions for the Cold Heading Steel Industry

　　China's cold heading steel has achieved certain results over years of production and manufacturing, but there is still a gap compared to countries like Europe, America, and Japan. Therefore, there is still much work to be done in future research and application. The following suggestions are proposed:

　　1. According to the usage characteristics and quality requirements of cold heading steel, formulate corresponding smelting processes and rolling procedures, and strictly control various quality and technical standards.

　　2. Learn from advanced domestic and international production experience, correct insufficient or incorrect production methods, and optimize various production processes and other production factors through later research and practice to improve the performance and service life of cold heading steel.

　　3. Cooperate with other advanced enterprises, research units, or institutions to overcome various quality and technical challenges, and research and develop new processes, equipment, materials, and standards to produce higher-quality cold heading steel.

　　According to the "2019-2025 Cold Heading Steel Industry Market Research and Development Strategy Research Consulting Report" released by Zhongyan Puhua Industry Research Institute:

　　Due to the successive introduction of environmental protection policies and policies aimed at regulating the prices of bulk commodities, the enthusiasm of steel companies for production has become relatively restrained. As of July 9, 2021, the operating rate of blast furnaces in 163 steel companies nationwide decreased by 15.0% year-on-year, while the operating rate of electric arc furnaces increased by 2.8%. Since June 1 of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's "Implementation Measures for Steel Industry Capacity Replacement" has come into effect. The new measures have stricter requirements for capacity replacement than before, such as strictly limiting the production capacity of steel companies, strictly prohibiting the increase in the total steel production capacity in key areas for atmospheric pollution prevention and control, and provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) that have not achieved the target of controlling the total amount of steel production capacity are not allowed to accept steel production capacity transferred from other regions. The Yangtze River Economic Belt region prohibits the construction of new or expansion of steel smelting projects outside of compliant parks.

　　The upstream of the cold heading steel industry chain mainly consists of raw materials such as iron ore, scrap steel, and alloys; the midstream is the cold heading steel production link; and the downstream deep-processed products of cold heading steel include high-strength standard parts and automotive, electrical machinery connecting parts, as well as fasteners such as bolts, nuts, and screws. From the perspective of the downstream fastener market, China's fastener industry has undergone a transformation from small to large after years of development, with the world's largest output, making it a veritable major producer and exporter. In recent years, the output of China's fastener industry has shown an overall upward trend. In 2022, China's metal fastener output reached 9.29 million tons, an increase of 3.34% year-on-year.

　　The future cold heading steel market will have more innovation and transformation to meet market demand. Due to the increasing application of extrusion precision die steel in high-end manufacturing fields, there will be more investment and manufacturing in the future cold heading steel market to ensure its performance and quality. In addition, the cold heading steel market will also develop towards green and environmental protection, promoting enterprises to carry out resource conservation and environmentally friendly production to achieve sustainable development. In short, the future cold heading steel market will explore a broader market and prospects in the direction of high performance, high quality, green environmental protection, and innovative transformation.