Currently, China’s stainless steel seamless pipe industry is embracing dual opportunities of capacity expansion and high-end upgrading. With an output of 3.5 million tons in 2024, accounting for 42% of the global total, the industry still faces multiple constraints. As a key enterprise in the sector, Kangxin Steel Pipe stands at the forefront of the market, accurately identifies future development bottlenecks, and launches a series of breakthrough initiatives, providing a practical model for the high-quality development of the industry.

Firstly, cost fluctuation risks. Nickel prices account for 55% of the cost of 304-grade stainless steel; a 10% price increase squeezes profit margins by 3.2 percentage points. Coupled with rising procurement costs of pipe blanks, the profit space for small and medium-sized enterprises continues to narrow. Secondly, technological upgrading pressure. The high-end market has seen a surge in demand for ultra-low carbon and ultra-pure pipes, yet domestic industries still have technical shortcomings in products such as 0.08mm ultra-thin-walled pipes and 2507 super duplex steel, with an import substitution rate of only 35%. Finally, policy compliance challenges. Under the “dual carbon” policy, the environmental transformation cost for a single pickling line exceeds 20 million yuan, and the EU anti-dumping tariff may rise to 35%, increasing export resistance.

To address cost pain points, Kangxin Steel Pipe adopts a dual strategy of “price locking + structural optimization”: signing long-term nickel ore supply agreements with upstream enterprises to stabilize raw material costs; simultaneously expanding the proportion of high-value-added products, focusing on pipes for nuclear power, hydrogen storage and transportation, with profit margins 8-12 percentage points higher than traditional pipes.

In technological research, the enterprise has established a special R&D team focusing on “four modernizations” upgrading: promoting intelligent production transformation by introducing full-process digital systems, targeting a product qualification rate of over 99%; developing special products such as supercritical boiler pipes and LNG low-temperature transmission pipes, aiming to achieve mass production of 0.08mm ultra-thin-walled pipes by 2027 and raise the import substitution rate to 60%. It also collaborates with universities to develop hydrogen reduction steelmaking technology, reducing carbon emissions per ton of pipes by 40% to align with green development requirements.

To mitigate policy risks, Kangxin Steel Pipe is accelerating the construction of a compliance system, having initiated PED/ASME international certifications to expand overseas market channels; investing special funds in environmental technological transformation, adopting bio-based passivators to replace traditional processes and achieve compliance with pollutant discharge standards. Additionally, relying on a “two-core multi-pole” market layout, it focuses on expanding the high-end industrial clusters in the Yangtze River Delta and the incremental market of coal chemical industry in Northwest China, building a diversified marketing network.

A responsible person from Kangxin Steel Pipe stated that the enterprise will adopt the path of “short-term capacity optimization, medium-term technological breakthroughs, and long-term ecological construction.” It will continue to increase R&D investment over the next three years, striving for high-end products to contribute over 60% of revenue, injecting strong momentum into China’s stainless steel seamless pipe industry to break through development bottlenecks and seize the high ground in international competition.