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| China's Rail Needs To Total 4.6M Tons For Expanded Railway Networks |
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China's rail requirements for double-tracking are estimated to total 4,600,000 tons for the rail weighing 50 kg/m concerning government plans to enlarge domestic railway networks, according to information made available in Tokyo. The Chinese government is contemplating spending the equivalent of 57 trillion Japanese yen to prime the pump for two years of 2009-2010, in which steel demand is estimated to total around 150 million tons so far. Among the economic stimulus measures, ones for railway networks are forecast to shape up in the immediate future toward the improvement of existing railway networks besides construction of new railways. In this connection, the Chinese government plans to build new railway networks measuring 23,000 km overall that will cover Qinghuangdao in the north and Guangzhou in the south. It is understood that the plans will require a total of nearly 4,600,000 tons of rails for the product with a weight of 50 kg/m, rail requirements that will amount to two years of domestic rail production. China's rail production capacity is estimated at 2,000,000 tpy. As a result, it is uncertain whether China can meet all the rail requirements for the new railway networks with domestic rail production, given normal rail needs for railway maintenance and repairs, experts point out. Also, China will need more rails if it takes up construction of new railways that will connect with neighboring countries such as Myanmar. Therefore, China could opt to take a specified amount of rails from abroad, suggest Japanese steel industry sources. Moreover, there are forecasts that Chinese steelmakers will stop their rail exports to North America from 2009 onward if they are preoccupied with domestic rail supplies to meet the Chinese government's plans for enlarged domestic railway networks. At present, the Chinese steelmakers are concerned with rail exports at an annual level of 100,000 tons for shipments to North America and elsewhere. Accordingly, speculation has begun to circulate that supply-demand conditions may become somewhat tight in rail exports to North America when rail supplies decrease internationally in the absence of Chinese export sales. |
| last modified : Wed 26 Nov, 2008 [10:15] |
