The China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry (CANSI) expects that the aggregate shipbuilding output in China will amount to 36.0 million dead weight tons (dwt) in 2019, up four percent from 34.58 million dwt in 2018. This will keep demand for such steelmaking products as heavy plate at stable levels or will lead to a slight increase in consumption.
At the same time, ship orders on the hands of Chinese shipbuilding enterprises will total 80.0 million dwt by the end of the current year, according to CANSI, down 10.4 percent from the end of 2018. In the first half this year, new shipbuilding orders posted a 47 percent decline. “Demand for new ships in the international market continues to be at a low level, and the new ship structure is gradually shifting to high-tech, high value-added ships,” CANSI reported.
Nevertheless, taking into account higher ship prices, the revenues of shipbuilding enterprises have been increasing this year, gaining 5.7 percent year on year in the January-May period. It is likely that the Chinese shipbuilding industry will become more efficient in the coming years following the announcement at the start of July of the planned merger of Chinese two biggest shipbuilders, namely, China Shipbuilding Industry Corp. and China State Shipbuilding Corp.