| Ansteel Group | |||||||
| Company type | State-owned enterprise | ||||||
| Industry | Steel manufacturing | ||||||
| Founded | 1916; 110 years ago (1916) | ||||||
| Headquarters | Anshan, Liaoning ,China | ||||||
Area served | China | ||||||
Key people | Yao Lin (Chairman andParty Committee Secretary) | ||||||
| Products | Steel | ||||||
| Revenue |  CN¥73.354 billion (2015) | ||||||
| (CN¥4.096 billion) (2015) | |||||||
| (CN¥3.853 billion) (2015) | |||||||
| Total assets | CN¥195.640 billion (2015) | ||||||
| Total equity | CN¥47.073 billion (2015) | ||||||
| Owner | Chinese Government | ||||||
| Subsidiaries | Angang Steel (67.29%) | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 鞍山钢铁集团公司 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 鞍山鋼鐵集團公司 | ||||||
| |||||||
| Website | www | ||||||
| Footnotes / references in a consolidated basis[1] | |||||||
Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corporation (Ansteel Group in short; less popularlyAngang Group) is a Chinese state-owned steel maker. The corporation is under the supervision ofState-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council. It is headquartered inAnshan,Liaoning. According to theWorld Steel Association in 2015, the corporation was the 7th largest manufacturer of steel in the world by production volume.[2]
The enterprise was established under Japanese colonial control in Manchuria as Anshan Iron & Steel Works, then Shōwa Steel Works. After Japan's defeat in theSecond Sino-Japanese War, China's Nationalist government restructured it as a state-owned enterprise. Once the Communists gained control of Anshan in theChinese Civil War, the enterprise was re-organized asAnshan Iron and Steel Company (Angang).
Angang was critical to the development of heavy industry during the early years of the People's Republic of China. During the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, Angang was politically important in debates about worker democracy (especially through the Angang Constitution) and local control (as opposed to central control) over state-owned enterprises.
The group was formerly Anshan Iron & Steel Works andShōwa Steel Works, which was established in 1916 underJapanese rule inNortheast China. Anshan Iron and Steel Company (Angang) was established from the two places in 1948.[3] It was among the formerly Japanese enterprises that was restructured as a Chinese state-owned enterprise when theNationalist government assumed control of the region from 1946 to 1948.[4]: 4–5
During the resumed Chinese Civil War, the Nationalists destroyed Angang's blast furnaces and other key facilities when they withdrew from Anshan in February 1948.[4]: 91
In 1951, the People's Republic of China and its Soviet advisors began the "Three Major Projects" of Angang, which included a Seamless-Pipe Factory, the Large Steel-Rolling Factory, and Blast Furnace No. 7.[4]: 135 In May 1951, the PRC and the Soviet Union agreed for Soviet design of the Angang factories.[4]: 135 The steel refinery was modified under the aid ofSoviet Union as one of156 important construction projects [zh] in thefirst five-year plan.
As part of the early to mid-1950s trend towards centralizing control over SOEs, in January 1953, Angang became a central SOE under the Ministry of Heavy Industry.[4]: 169 In June 1956, it was placed within the responsibility of the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry.[4]: 169
In 1958, prompted by the political movement of theGreat Leap Forward, workers at Angang laid out rules to challenge the existing operations of their workplace.[5] These ideas were reflected in the March 11, 1960, "Report of the Anshan City Committee Regarding the Beginning of the Movement for Technological Reform and Technological Revolution."[6] On March 22, 1960, theCentral Committee of the Chinese Communist Party approved the document and distributed it to various governmental bodies.[6]Mao Zedong designated the document as theAngang Constitution[6] and stated that its principles should guide the operation ofstate enterprises.[5]
The Great Leap Forward significantly increased the power of Anshan's Party Committee over Angang and decreased the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry's authority over Angang.[4]: 239
During the Great Leap Forward, Angang implemented both high-tech and low-tech initiatives.[4]: 235 Angang made major investments to speed construction of 39 new advanced industrial facilities.[4]: 235 Angang introduced a slogan during the Great Leap Forward that "It is all right not to sleep. It is all right not to eat. But it is not all right to fail to complete plans for iron and steel."[4]: 234
During this period, Angang produced the steel for the banquet and conference halls at theGreat Hall of the People (one of theTen Great Buildings).[7]: 71
In the early 1960s, Angang supported the construction ofVietnam's first modern steel enterprise, Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Company.[4]: 248 It sent experts to the steelworks and trained hundreds of Vietnamese workers. When American attacks later damaged the facilities, Angang worked on the restoration, including through manufacturing essential equipment.[4]: 248
During theCultural Revolution, on 17 August 1967, the CCP Central Committee issued theResolution on the Anshan Question which criticized the CCP Angang Committee and the CCP Anshan City Committee members ascapitalist roaders.[4]: 253 Three days later, the Anshan City Military Control Committee was established by thePeople's Liberation Army with Zhang Feng andChen Shaokun as the Committee directors.[4]: 253 The Committee implemented military control over both Angang and Anshan.[4]: 253
On 10 May 1969, theState Council removed Angang from under the authority of the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry and instead placed it under the authority of the Liaoning ProvincialRevolutionary Committee.[4]: 254 This approach to localizing control over a large-scale SOE was subsequently promoted as a model for other SOEs, with the government placing 2,400 more (includingDaqing Oil Field and Changchun Auto Manufacturing) within provincial or local control in 1970.[4]: 255
On 24 July 1969, the Anshan Revolutionary Committee combined Angang and Anshan's operations, including combining the enterprise's housing and medical departments into the city's departments, among others.[4]: 254
In the early 1970s, Angang provided technological support toRomania and toPakistan.[4]: 248
Through its targeting of cadres of in industrial enterprises and economic organs, theCriticize Lin, Criticize Confucius campaign created turmoil at Angang in July 1974.[4]: 260
On 15 October 1975, the CCP and the central government approved the reestablishment of both Angang and the CCP Anshan City Committee.[4]: 261 In November 1975, Anshan was re-established as an enterprise.[4]: 261
AfterReform and Opening Up, like much of the industry inChina's northeast, Angang began lagging in economic activity.[4]: 265–266 By the 1980s, Angang's industrial site had become overly dense and disorganized, with most new construction projects requiring the relocation of other projects.[4]: 272 In this period, relocation costs accounted for 40–50% of Angang's investment costs.[4]: 272
Beginning in 1988, Angang started to obtain foreign loans andWorld Bank loans in order to support its technological development, the importation of equipment, and environmental protection work.[4]: 270–271
In 1994, Angang was in poor financial condition.[4]: 282 Angang's leadership sought financial help fromZhu Rongji, who informed Angang's leadership that the government could not provide further funding and that the best solution was to issue stock to be sold on theHong Kong stock market.[4]: 282 Angang's deficit made selling shares in the company not viable, and therefore it packaged its better assets and conducted a partial public offering.[4]: 282 In 1997, Angang placed its profitable factories within a new subsidiary, Angang New Steel Rolling Limited (ANSRL).[4]: 282 Less than half the shares in ANSRL were listed for sale, which allowed the subsidiary to remain majority owned by Angang.[4]: 282 The offering attracted little interest in the market, and the state-owned securities brokerEverbright Securities purchased the unsold ANSRL shares.[4]: 282
In 1997, a subsidiaryAngang Steel was incorporated and listed some of the assets of the group in the stock exchanges.
Responding to increasing domestic demand from industries like shipbuilding, in 1993 Angang completed a heavy plate plant which became the largest heavy plate plant in China at the time.[4]: 270
In 2010Panzhihua Iron and Steel was merged into Anshan Iron & Steel Group Corporation.
In June 2010 Anshan Iron announced it had signed an agreement withJilin Horoc for the long-term supply of nickel. Anshan intended to get into thestainless steel and specialty metals industry.[8]
In August 2021, Ansteel and Angang Group Corporation, began the process of merging and restructuring that will create the world's third-largest steelmaker. According to the deal, Angang will become a subsidiary of Ansteel.[9]
Angang is one of the major SOEs under the supervision of SASAC.[4]: 302
In 1952, filmmaker and writer Yu Min relocated to Anshan to create films and other works celebrating Angang.[4]: 163
Academic Koji Hirata writes, "[T]hrough museums, essays, films, and television series, Angang symbolizes a golden age of Northeastern industry, when the region's SOEs were at the vanguard of China's steelmaking, auto manufacturing, coal mining and other industries vital for building socialism."[4]: 2 A fictional enterprise based on Angang is at the center of the 2023 TV seriesThe Long Season.[4]: 292
Meng Tai is among the most celebrated model workers from Angang.[4]: 214 Meng's experiences at Angang are portrayed in the 2022 filmSteel Will.[10]
The Communist Party portrays the development of Angang and industry in the northeast as part of its history of building the Chinese nation.[4]: 2 In 2017, Angang was among the initial "national industrial heritages" designated by the government.[4]: 303
