On June 16, the Circulation Branch of China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), together with more than 40 provincial and municipal steel circulation industry associations nationwide, released the "Anti-Involution Action Initiative for the Steel Circulation Industry", publicly advocating resistance to below-cost dumping and malicious order grabbing, and proposing to standardize steel export order to avoid trade frictions caused by blind order grabbing overseas.

Against the backdrop of the central government taking rectifying "involution-style" competition as a key task of economic work, this is the first large-scale joint response to national policies in the steel circulation field, which also means that the anti-involution of the steel industry is extending from the production end to the circulation end.

The CISA Circulation Branch was officially established on the same day together with the CISA Welded Pipe Branch. It is reported that the Circulation Branch will fill the gap of CISA's professional strength in the circulation field and form a new pattern of collaborative and win-win "manufacturing + circulation"; the Welded Pipe Branch will strengthen the upstream and downstream linkage of the industrial chain and promote technological progress and market order construction in the welded pipe industry.

According to the Action Initiative, the participants in this joint release include the CISA Circulation Branch and more than 40 national and local industry organizations in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Hebei, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Sichuan, etc., covering multiple market segments such as construction steel, plates, and stainless steel.

The initiative points out that the current steel circulation field has phenomena such as "price wars", below-cost dumping, and malicious order grabbing, which seriously erode the foundation for the healthy development of the industry. In response, the initiative proposes to strictly abide by relevant laws and regulations, resolutely resist illegal and irregular behaviors such as below-cost dumping and below-cost bidding, and actively cooperate with market supervision departments to rectify "involution-style" competition.

At the same time, the initiative clearly states that "there are no winners in price wars", calling on the industry to emerge from the vicious cycle of "competing on price and volume" and turn to healthy competition in quality, service, brand, etc., and establish industry price self-discipline and risk warning mechanisms.

Behind the collective voice of the industry is the change in the supply and demand pattern of the steel market. Data disclosed in the initiative shows that in 2025, China's crude steel output was 961 million tons, down 4.4% year-on-year, but apparent consumption was only 829 million tons, down 7.1% year-on-year. Meanwhile, steel exports reached 119 million tons, up 7.5% year-on-year, but the average export price fell by 8.1%, showing the characteristic of "volume increase and price decrease".

Entering 2026, the pressure on the steel market has not been significantly alleviated. The real estate market remained weak in the first quarter, infrastructure investment played a supporting role, and the manufacturing industry maintained certain resilience. However, the steel price index was still at a low level in recent years, and the main steel business profits of key iron and steel enterprises fell by 85.6% year-on-year.

Against the background of slowing demand growth, the traditional development model of the steel trade industry relying on scale expansion is unsustainable. The initiative clearly proposes that the steel circulation industry is facing a new pattern of "total volume peaking and structural optimization". Circulation enterprises need to accelerate the transformation from traditional traders to comprehensive supply chain service providers and form differentiated competitive capabilities in processing, warehousing, logistics, supply chain management and other fields.

The initiative also extends anti-involution to the international market, proposing to rationally participate in international competition, standardize export order, avoid trade remedy investigations caused by blind order grabbing in overseas markets, and actively respond to changes in international trade rules such as the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

https://www.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1781602997129044.html