China shares steelmaking wisdom via BRI

According to the China Iron and Steel Association, in 2021, China exported 66.9 million tons of steel, up 24.6 percent year-on-year.

On Aug 16, New Tianjin Steel Group, another subsidiary of Delong Steel, inked a deal with Teda Investment Holding Co Ltd and launched a 10-million-ton steelmaking project in Saudi Arabia. Different from the project in Indonesia, the project in Saudi Arabia is adopting electric furnaces instead of blast furnaces to produce steel.

Chen said, "China has transformed from a large steelmaking country to a steelmaking power in the world, and substituting electric furnaces for blast furnaces is an inevitable trend in the industry."

"The project in Saudi Arabia also marked Delong Steel's efforts under the BRI. We want to adopt an environmentally friendly production model. This is the reason why we use electric furnaces in the country," said Ding Liguo, chairman of Delong Steel.

"The country's industrialization process requires a great amount of steel. Rising market demand made us select Saudi Arabia," he said.

Currently, Delong Steel conducts business in 27 countries and regions around the world, covering Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas and employs over 7,400 overseas workers. In the future, it plans to expand its business to more countries and regions, aiming to share the Chinese wisdom of steelmaking with the world.

However, Ding said that despite the success achieved in Indonesia today, Delong Steel's internationalization process was not as smooth at the beginning.

The establishment of Dexin Steel experienced many difficulties. In May 2017, the pioneering construction group of seven people traveled from China to a little Indonesian island. At that time, they had to travel for 38 hours and take three different means of transportation including airplanes, ferries and vehicles to get to the industrial park.

"The rugged mountain road and the rough sea made the weaker people collapse, and it took them a few days to recover," recalled Wang Sanbo, a member of the pioneering construction group of Dexin Steel.

"On the island where the industrial park is located, our initial command center was merely a container. Sometimes it was hard for us to walk through the park. When it rains, the puddles in some places can reach half a meter deep, making the construction very difficult," Wang said.

"During the past five years, we encountered a tsunami, earthquake and COVID-19 in Indonesia, but we never gave up," Ding said.