The cold-rolling workshop at China Baowu Steel Group Corp. in Shanghai, in 2022.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergThe Big Take
Too Much Steel in China Means Trouble for the World
The prospect of peak steel demand in China has profound implications for the global industry.
Shanghai trader Yu Yongzhang’s annual steel sales have shrunk by more than three quarters in a matter of years, in a market so bad he “can't see light at the end of the tunnel.” More than 1,000 miles away in Chile, Hector Medina is about to lose his job after almost five decades working in the Huachipato steel mills.
The unifying factor is China, the dominant force that’s long held sway over the industry they work in, and so also their careers and livelihoods.