Efforts to infuse diplomatic and political elements into a planned global steel industry forum aimed at tackling overcapacity have slowed the forum's preparation work, said a senior industry insider.
The Group of 20 (G20) Hangzhou summit in September called for the setting up of a global forum on steel sector overcapacity to improve its governance. The preparation work of the forum is underway.
"The steel industry can only afford to assume responsibility for its own communication and governance, it cannot shoulder too much, such as diplomatic and political responsibilities," Li Xinchuang, president of the China Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute, told the Global Times on Monday.
There is global bias and discrimination against Chinese steelmakers, Li said. And because the bias is so strong, Li said it was pointless to show up at some global meetings.
"For instance, the Japanese have accused China of affecting their development, I asked them how China can affect Japan when Japan exports about 40 percent of its steel output while China exports only 10 percent?" Li said.
However, Li said China should still actively participate in the forum, otherwise the forum will become a place to criticize Chinese steelmakers, now the world's most competitive ones.
China produces about half of the world's steel, and the forum will be pointless without China's participation, noted Li.
Li also called for the self-strengthening of Chinese steelmakers and he urged them to exercise caution in overseas expansion.
"Even as domestic demand shrinks, there has been an increase of imports of some steel products, this is ridiculous. Domestic steel producers should improve and increase their supplies of some high-end products," Li said.
There are about 400,000 Chinese steel workers being affected by the ongoing campaign against overcapacity in the steel sector, according to Li.
On December 2, Shen Danyang, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce, said at a press conference that China as the host country for this year's G20 Summit has been actively pushing for the preparation work of this forum.
China's steel demand is forecast to drop 1.5 percent year-on-year in 2017 to 660 million tons, the China Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute said in a report also released on Monday.
Global steel demand is forecast to increase by a tiny margin of 0.6 percent year-on-year to 1.53 billion tons in 2017.
