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Recently, the field of color-coated galvanized steel sheets has been active, from overseas capacity layout to domestic technological breakthroughs and market adjustments, and many dynamics have attracted attention from both inside and outside the industry.
Overseas capacity layout: Panhua Group's Philippine project has attracted much attention
According to the Philippine media "Mindanao Times" on August 25, Jiangsu Panhua Group will build a 10 million tons per year galvanized color-coated steel sheet plant in Maasim, Sarangani Province in southern Philippines. In an interview with Philippine reporters, Li Xinghua, chairman of Panhua Group, said that he was optimistic about investing $3.5 billion in the construction of a processing plant in the Philippines in the first quarter of 2025. The project plans to give priority to hiring locals and is expected to provide at least 20,000 jobs. It will also invite Philippine college students to exchange to improve their skills.

Panhua Group and the Philippine Alsons Group have joined hands in this project. Currently, the Alsons Group is applying to the Philippine Economic Zone Authority to include the 92-hectare Kamanga Agro-Industrial Economic Zone in the expansion of the Kamanga Agro-Industrial Economic Zone Development Company, which covers Panhua's processing plant project. In addition, Alsons' subsidiary Sarangani Energy has built a 27.5 billion pesos coal-fired power plant in the economic zone, which can provide power for Panhua's original long-process steel plant.

As early as September 2019, Panhua Group announced plans to build a 300-hectare integrated steel production plant in Eastern Misamis Province, Philippines. It was originally planned to invest US$3.5 billion in the first phase of the project within three years to achieve an annual production capacity of 10 million tons of steel plates and galvanized color steel coils. However, due to factors such as the epidemic and Philippine policies, the project progress has been delayed. Now the project is being re-promoted. If fully operational, the processing plant in Sarangani Province will produce at least 10 million tons of galvanized steel sheets, color-coated steel coils and steel plates, but the current planned first-phase output is 2 million tons.

In the Philippine steel industry, there have been major investment plans by other Chinese companies before. On December 14, 2018, Hesteel Group and Philippine Asia Steel Corporation took the lead in forming an investment consortium to build a multi-process integrated steel consortium in the Fodek Industrial Park in Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao. The iron and steel supporting production scale is about 8 million tons/year, with a total investment of about US$4.4 billion and a construction period of 3 to 5 years. At the end of January 2023, China Baowu Group and Philippine Asia Steel Manufacturing Corporation reached an agreement to jointly build a comprehensive steel plant worth 108 billion pesos (about 13.5 billion yuan) and an annual steel output of 3 million tons. However, after many years, except for the substantial progress of the Panhua project, there is no obvious sign of progress in the projects of Hegang and Baowu.
Domestic market and technology: Handan Iron and Steel customizes ultra-thin zinc layer products, Yanbo Color Coating and other companies launch new products
In China, changes in market demand have prompted companies to continuously adjust their product structure. Hesteel Group Handan Iron and Steel Company recently customized and produced 2,000 tons of 60g ultra-thin zinc layer cold-dip galvanized sheets for a high-end home appliance customer, and successfully rolled off the production line in the cold rolling mill. After inspection, the first-class product rate of the product reached 97.86%, and the production cost per ton of steel was reduced by more than 60 yuan/ton compared with ordinary products, filling the gap in Handan Iron and Steel's ultra-thin zinc layer products. Due to the intensified market competition and the increased cost pressure of each process, double-sided 60g zinc layer galvanized substrates have gradually become the preferred base material for most color coating companies. The technicians of Handan Iron and Steel Cold Rolling Plant have solved the quality problems such as "high air knife blowing pressure leads to excessive zinc slag" and "air knife pressure leads to slow production line speed" by optimizing the raw material preparation plate type, process annealing temperature, zinc liquid control system and air knife control system, and successfully realized the production organization of 60 grams of ultra-thin zinc layer.

On the afternoon of May 27, the "2025 Galvanized Magnesium Steel Plate & High-end Color-coated Steel Plate Promotion Conference" hosted by Hebei Yanbo Color-coated Plate Industry Co., Ltd. and Zhongan Iron and Steel (Qian'an) Steel Plate Manufacturing Co., Ltd. was successfully held. At the meeting, the company's chief engineer Park Chenghuan introduced the development history, product performance and application fields of galvanized aluminum-magnesium steel plates. The company produces 1 million tons of galvanized aluminum-magnesium steel plates annually, with a production thickness range of 0.3-2.5mm and a double-sided zinc layer of 100-350g/㎡. The Zn-3% Mg-11% AI-0.2% Si ternary eutectic high-corrosion-resistant alloy-coated steel plates produced using inherent technology have high corrosion resistance, scratch resistance and excellent processing performance. They are high-end plates that can replace stainless steel on the market. Zhongmei Zhongalu galvanized aluminum-magnesium color-coated steel plates are characterized by light weight, beautiful appearance, rich colors and stronger weather resistance. They are widely used in energy engineering (such as photovoltaic power station engineering, solar module support field), home appliances, automobiles, industrial plants, industrial refrigeration equipment, agricultural livestock, railways, highway guardrails and many other fields.
International market environment: changes in trade policies affect the trend of the industry
In the international market, the adjustment of trade policies has a significant impact on the color-coated galvanized steel plate industry. On December 25, 2024, the Turkish Ministry of Trade issued an announcement that, at the request of Turkish producers, an anti-dumping investigation was initiated on cold-rolled steel sheets (except unannealed), galvanized steel sheets and color-coated steel sheets originating from China and South Korea. The dumping investigation period is from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, and the damage investigation period is from January 1, 2021 to June 30, 2024. This move undoubtedly brings uncertainty to related export companies and may affect the market share and sales of Chinese color-coated galvanized steel sheets in Turkey.

In Thailand, in order to strengthen public safety protection and enhance the international competitiveness of domestic enterprises, the Thai National Bureau of Standards TISI revealed on December 19, 2024 that in 2025, mandatory TISI certification will be implemented for galvanized color-coated and galvanized color-coated steel coils, steel plates, and corrugated plates, involving TIS 2131-2567 hot-dip galvanized color-coated steel coils, steel plates, and corrugated plates, and TIS 2753-2567 hot-dip galvanized color-coated steel coils, steel plates, and corrugated plates. This requires relevant export companies to promptly understand and meet Thailand's certification standards to maintain their business in the Thai market.

With the gradual recovery of the global economy and the development of the industry, the color-coated galvanized steel plate industry needs to pay close attention to the dynamic changes in international market trade policies while expanding production capacity and innovating technology, actively respond to challenges, seize new development opportunities, and achieve sustainable development of the industry.