Our main source: Baosteel electrical steel
Why HXES sources mainly from Baosteel, and what the mill’s capacity and new grades mean for buyers of grain-oriented and non-oriented steel.
The steel in every core we ship starts at a mill, and the mill’s process control decides the core loss you will measure on your transformer or motor. HXES sources its electrical steel mainly from Baosteel (Baoshan Iron & Steel), the listed flagship of China Baowu Steel Group. This article summarises publicly reported facts about Baosteel’s electrical steel business and explains why they matter to our customers.
World-leading grain-oriented capacity
On 13 June 2024 Baosteel’s grain-oriented silicon steel product structure optimisation project (phase two) went into full production at the Baoshan base in Shanghai. According to reports by Jiefang Daily (republished by the Shanghai municipal government) and Securities Times, this raised Baosteel’s annual grain-oriented capacity from 1.00 million to 1.16 million tonnes, the largest in the world. On the same day construction started on an ultra-high-grade silicon steel green manufacturing demonstration project.
Silicon steel is Baosteel’s second-largest strategic product, with total capacity of more than 4 million tonnes, and Securities Times describes Baosteel as the world’s largest silicon steel supplier.
New grain-oriented grades
At its 5th Grain-Oriented Silicon Steel Application Technology Conference on 25 June 2024, Baosteel launched four self-developed grain-oriented grades worldwide: B23P080, B20HS070, B18HS075 and B18HS070. The thinner gauges and lower loss classes are aimed at the most efficient transformers. Their parameters follow Baosteel’s quotation and mill certificate, so ask us for current availability and data before designing with them.
Non-oriented steel for new energy vehicles
On 24 March 2023 Baosteel put its non-oriented silicon steel product structure optimisation project into production. Securities Times reported that the line supplies 500,000 tonnes a year of top high-grade non-oriented steel for new energy vehicles, covering four product categories and more than 60 grades for drive motors, compressors and industrial motors. By then Baosteel had supplied more than 600,000 tonnes of drive-motor silicon steel, enough for nearly 8 million vehicles.
What this means for our customers
- Stable supply: a mill of this scale can support repeat orders on the same grade over many years.
- Consistent properties: the same grade from the same mill keeps your design margins predictable.
- Full documentation: every lot comes with a Baosteel mill certificate that we keep linked to your parts.
- Access to new grades: we can quote Baosteel’s newest low-loss grades as they become available.
HXES then slits, cuts, stamps and stacks this steel in our own processing plant in Hunan. Tell us your application and we will propose a Baosteel grade and a processing route.
Sources: Jiefang Daily, 14 June 2024 (shanghai.gov.cn); Securities Times, 24 March 2023 and 25 June 2024.
