"The original intention of our generation is to hope that the motherland will be strong. I have been working in the steel industry all my life, and I hope to make this industry the strongest in the world. ”
"I have dedicated my life to steel, and I have no regrets."
- Shen Wenrong
June 30, 2024
Shagang Group released an obituary
Comrade Shen Wenrong, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Jiangsu Shagang Group
Ineffective medical treatment due to illness
He passed away at 2:10 a.m. on June 30, 2024
Shen Wenrong, male, born in 1946, from Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu, is the chairman of the board of directors of Jiangsu Shagang Group Co., Ltd. Since 1992, he has served as the chairman, president and secretary of the Party Committee of Shagang Group. In the 2024 Hurun Global Rich List, Shen Wenrong ranks 613th with a wealth of 37.5 billion yuan.
Shen Wenrong dedicated his life to the steel industry he loved, and walked out of a stirring and high-spirited road of "serving the country by steel industry"!
The way to set sail
Shen Wenrong was born in a peasant family in Shazhou County, Jiangsu, and in 1968, after graduating from secondary school, Shen Wenrong entered Zhangjiagang Jinfeng ginning factory as a fitter.
In 1975, in order to solve the needs of steel for maintenance and transformation, the ginning factory raised 450,000 yuan to build a steel rolling workshop. Shen Wenrong led the workers to sleep on the floor, turned over three shifts, and worked tirelessly to learn from teachers in other places, and finally rolled out the first batch of steel. Subsequently, this small steel mill broke away from the ginning factory and became its own "independent door", and the 38-year-old Shen Wenrong became the director of the steel plant, and since then he has formed an indissoluble bond with steel.
In 1979, ushering in the opportunity of reform and opening up, Jiangsu, as a frontier province of reform, was naturally quite active, and the market demand for steel products was strong. Shen Wenrong set his sights on the emerging door and window frame steel, and introduced the corresponding production line, becoming the only factory in Shanghai and Jiangsu that could provide door and window frame steel at that time, at this time, the small steel mill was revitalized.
In 1994, the 90-ton ultra-high power vertical electric furnace steelmaking, continuous casting and continuous rolling production line was built with the integration of advanced equipment from many countries such as ultra-high power vertical electric furnace in Germany.
In 1996, it had a joint venture of more than 200 million US dollars with POSCO, the world's second largest steel company, to produce cold-rolled stainless steel sheets.
In 1998, Shen Wenrong overrode public opinion, spent more than 2 billion yuan to introduce the most advanced cold-rolled stainless steel technology in the United States, and also upgraded the assembly line for the factory, with advanced technical advantages, firmly occupy the leading position in the industry.
In 2002, Shagang successfully acquired the Horsch steel mill in Dortmund of the veteran German enterprise ThyssenKrupp Steel, which shocked the industry in one fell swoop. In only 15 months, the overall relocation, repair, installation and production were completed, and it was known as the world's "largest relocation project". In accordance with Shen Wenrong's precise deployment, Shagang people have invested heavily in the technological transformation of these old equipment, and built a world-class 6.5 million tons of long-process wide and heavy plate project, achieving a production capacity of more than 10 million tons, and entering the "first phalanx" of the steel industry in one fell swoop.
Since 2006, shagang has given full play to the advantages of flexible mechanism and fast decision-making of private enterprises, and jointly reorganized Huaigang Special Steel, Henan Anyang Yongxing Iron and Steel and other enterprises across regions, and the production capacity of Shagang Group has expanded rapidly.
The international financial crisis in 2008 deeply affected the steel industry, Shen Wenrong once again changed his concept, and proposed that the steel industry should not simply become bigger and stronger, but should be refined and stronger. "Entrepreneurs must be responsible, the more difficult the situation, the more difficult it is!" Shagang faced the challenge, continued to increase the proportion of excellent steel and special steel, and successfully reorganized Northeast Special Steel in 2017 to increase the share of high-end products.
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Under the leadership of Shen Wenrong, Shagang Group has not only achieved a precise strategic layout again and again, but also made correct decisions in line with the trend of the times and the law of development at every critical moment.
In recent years, the development has continued to grow
The first private steel enterprise with revenue exceeding 300 billion yuan
In the past year, Shagang Group has maintained a steady and progressive development trend, with a revenue of 266.8 billion yuan in 2020 and 302.8 billion yuan in 2021, making it the first private steel enterprise with a revenue of more than 300 billion yuan.
The revenue in 2022 will be 287.8 billion yuan, although it will decline compared with 2021, it will still maintain a high revenue level. In addition, according to the data of the All-Union Metallurgical Chamber of Commerce, Shagang will achieve a profit of more than 10 billion yuan in 2022, ranking first in the private list, which also fully demonstrates its competitiveness and strength in the local market.
This stable revenue performance fully demonstrates Shagang Group's strong resilience and adaptability in market competition.
Crude steel production is the sixth in the world
According to the data released by the World Steel Association, in 2020, shagang crude steel output was 41.59 million tons, ranking fourth in the world;
44.23 million tons in 2021, ranking fifth in the world;
41.45 million tons in 2022, ranking fifth in the world;
In 2023, it will be 40.54 million tons, ranking sixth in the world.
With the continuous development of the global economy, it is believed that shagang will continue to maintain stable growth in the future and make greater contributions to the development of the industry.
Constantly laying out new projects
Shagang continues to invest in and build new projects, and here are some recent examples.
Shagang casting and rolling thin strip high-quality silicon steel project covers an area of 820 acres, planning to build 2 million tons of silicon steel, is currently in full swing construction, after the completion of the project, shagang will achieve full coverage of non-oriented silicon steel products, its silicon steel production capacity and equipment level will be among the first phalanx in China.
It is estimated that the total investment of 5 billion yuan Shagang Group Anyang Yongxing Special Steel Co., Ltd. steel capacity integration project is the ninth phase of Henan Province "three batches" major projects, after the completion of the formation of an annual iron-making capacity of 2.53 million tons, steel-making 2.6 million tons, and an annual output of 2.5 million tons of rolled products.
Recently, Ningbo Zhoushan Port Shagang Concentrate Production Project was officially put into operation, and the annual blended ore volume is expected to reach 15 million tons after the project is launched.
Shagang continues to lay out new projects, which also shows its strong strength and confidence in future development.
Leading the new pattern of development of private steel enterprises
Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Zhangjiagang City, Jiangsu Province, Jiangsu Shagang Group Co., Ltd. is now a national super-large private iron and steel enterprise, a national innovative enterprise, and an international group enterprise with steel-based and diversified development, ranking 348th in the Fortune Global 500 list announced in 2023. At present, the group's main steel industry has five production bases, among which the headquarters of Shagang Iron and Steel is an important electric furnace steel production base and ultra-thin belt production base in China, Fushun Special Steel is a large-scale special steel production base and high-quality die steel production base required by China's aerospace and other high-end fields, Huaigang Special Steel, Dongte Co., Ltd., and Anyang Yongxing are all important excellent special steel production bases of the group.
As the leader of China's private iron and steel enterprises, Shagang Group's development process itself is a vivid textbook, telling a wonderful story of transformation and upgrading from traditional manufacturing to modern industry, and is leading the new pattern of the development of private steel enterprises. Under the background of the new era, Shagang Group adheres to the responsibility of becoming a strong steel country, with the vision of building a "green shagang", "quality shagang", "efficient shagang", "entrepreneurial shagang", "smart shagang" and "responsible shagang", and with the goal of building a "highly competitive steel enterprise", adheres to the two development paths of more specialized and refined steel industry and better and stronger non-steel industry, constantly creates and strengthens new competitive advantages of enterprises, accelerates the high-quality development of enterprises, and makes unremitting efforts to realize the "dream of a strong steel country" and "a century-old shagang dream"!
Shen Wenrong's story of struggle can be called a wonderful epitome of China's private entrepreneurs serving the country through industry. He led Shagang to start from a small rolling workshop of a township enterprise, and developed rapidly with a keen sense of the market, and forged ahead in the tide of the times when China's economy took off.
Shen Wenrong mentioned in his speech on the official website of Shagang Group, "On the road ahead, all kinds of risks cannot be avoided and cannot be avoided, and we must move forward bravely in overcoming difficulties." On the new journey, Shagang Group will lead China's private iron and steel enterprises to the world with a more high-spirited attitude, contribute to the prosperity and development of the global steel industry, and continue to write a more brilliant chapter!