Heat-treated Steel Plates Market - Forecast(2023 - 2028)

Heat-treated Steel Plates Market Overview

Heat-treated Steel Plates Market size is forecast to reach US$132.03 billion by 2027, after growing at a CAGR of 4.5% during 2022-2027. Heat treatment for steel plates is a controlled process, that is used to change the microstructure of steel and its alloys, which is to be known as alloy steel, to give them additional improved properties like the surface stiffness, temperature tolerance, ductility, and resilience, which is expected to help them last for a longer period of time. This Heat-treated steel plate undergoes through processes called homogenization, which makes the steel plate uniform, and normalizing, which involves heating the steel plate to an extremely high temperature within a furnace, to make the alloy steel more ductile and tough. Many process procedures such as initial composition, alloying elements, atmosphere, time, sintering temperature, and nitrocarburizing take part and influence the microstructure of steel plates. With such numerous benefits involved, heat-treated steel plates play an important role in the construction, aerospace, automotive and industrial machinery markets. Asia-Pacific is dominating the Heat-treated steel plates market due to an upsurge in the use of steel across the growing building & construction activities. However, fluctuations within the prices of raw materials are expected to restrain the expansion of the market. The Heat-treated Steel Plates market within the Asia-Pacific region is anticipated to expand at a rapid pace during the forecast period thanks to growing industrialization and expansion of the energy and aviation industry in the region.

COVID-19 Impact

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to complete or partial lockdown in several countries. This hampered the market, owing to the pandemic scenario various end-user industries, such as aerospace and automotive, among others, were temporarily shut down across the world during the government-imposed lockdowns. Also, the volatility in steel prices has been noticed much during the lockdowns and re-opening of them. According to OCED Organisation, “The slump in demand caused by the global pandemic comes as steel production and inventories continue to grow in China. The Committee also noted with concern that the difficult market conditions were causing significant job losses in the industry. The latest OECD data show that global steelmaking capacity could increase to 2,455.8 million metric tons in 2020. While the gap between global capacity and production narrowed from 2016 to 2019, it is likely to widen to as much as 700 million metric tons this year due to overall capacity increases and production decreases resulting from COVID-19. The Steel Committee noted that new steelmaking capacities due to come into operation in the Middle East and Asia this year are set to exacerbate excess capacity.” However, the introduction of vaccines for COVID-19 and reopening of production facilities gradually are anticipated to lead to re-initiation of Heat-treated Steel Plates companies at their full-scale capacities.

Heat-treated Steel Plates Market Report Coverage

The report: “Heat-treated Steel Plates Market – Forecast (2022-2027)”, by IndustryARC, covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of the Heat-treated Steel Plates industry. 

By Steel Type: Carbon Steel, Alloy Steel, Stainless steel, and Others
By Heat Treatment Processes: Normalizing, Annealing, Quenching and Tempering, Precipitation-Hardening, Spheroidizing, Stress Relieving, and Others
By Application: Automotive Components, Heavy Process Equipment and Machinery, Armoured Vehicles, Ship Building, Metal-working, Electronic Goods, and Others.
By End-Use Industry: Automotive, Aerospace and Defense, Building and Construction, Industrial, Energy & Power, Electrical and Electronics, and Others
By Geography: North America (USA, Canada, and Mexico), Europe (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Belgium, and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Rest of APAC), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Rest of South America), Rest of the World (Middle East, and Africa) 

Key Takeaways

• Asia-Pacific leads the Heat-treated Steel Plates market because of the increasing product use in heavy process equipment and machinery, and growing Aerospace and Defense segment within this region.
• Heat-treated Steel Plates are produced to improve the mechanical and chemical properties of steel without changing any of its original characteristics and composition, and therefore are being used by various end-user industries.
• On the flipside, high raw material price volatility and unfavorable conditions arising due to the impact of COVID-19 are expected to restrain the demand for the market studied.
• The technological advancements in the end-user market and increasing applications in the industries and aerospace sector are likely to act as an opportunity for the market studied.

Heat-treated Steel Plates Market Segment Analysis – By Steel type

The Carbon Steel segment held the largest share of 47% in the Heat-treated Steel Plates market in 2021, owing to its economical price, easy availability, and its wider applications in areas of manufacturing and construction industries. In Carbon steel, the hardness depends on its carbon content: up to 0.80% carbon, the ability to harden increases alongside the carbon content. Beyond 0.80%, the wear resistance can be increased due to hard cementite forming, but the hardness can’t be increased. When alloys is added to the steel to increase its hardness, the carbon’s ability to harden and strengthen also increases. That means that the carbon content needed to supply the very best  level of hardness is lower in alloyed steels versus plain carbon steels. Due to which, alloy steels typically offer better performance than the plain carbon steels. When carbon steel is hardened, the steel is required to be cooled under 1000°F in less than one second. But, once alloys is added to the steel and increase the effectiveness of the carbon, that the time limit also increases beyond one second. That allows us to pick a slower quenching medium to get the required hardness. Hence due to these advantages of the alloy steel, it is expected to overtake the carbon steel’s market share during the forecast period. Also, the increasing demand for high-end and heat-resistant goods within the automotive and aerospace sectors will further boost the segment’s growth during the forecast period.

Heat-treated Steel Plates Market Segment Analysis – By Heat Treatment Processes

The Precipitation-Hardening segment held the largest share of 33% in the Heat-treated Steel Plates market in 2021. Precipitation-hardening is a heat treatment process that involves two periods of re-heating and cooling the steel plate. Firstly, the plate is heated to a high temperature between 1,000 and 1,300 degrees – then it is rapidly cooled. Once the plate is cooled, it undergoes a process known as the age hardening, where the plate is reheated again at a lower, below-critical temperature and then rapidly cooled again. Precipitation hardening increases the strength of plate and also increase toughness. The high strength and machinability of precipitation-hardened plate makes it commonly utilized in applications requiring the power to bear the high stress, like jack-up rigs, construction equipment, rail cars, truck frames, piping components and shipbuilding. Rising application scope of this process in steel plates market is additionally expected to drive its demand over the projected period.

Heat-treated Steel Plates Market Segment Analysis – By Application

The Automotive Components segment occupied the largest share in the Heat-treated Steel Plates market in 2021 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.4% during 2022-2027. Globalization, and increasing demand in automotive industries due to growing population’s vehicle needs are pressing the face of the utilization of automotive components. In addition, Heat-treated steel plates are increasingly used for safety requirements and voluntary environmental commitments by the automotive industry, which have also contributed to the changes ahead. Furthermore, High-treated steel plates are used in molds, equipment, cranes, and earthmoving and construction machinery. According to Indian brand equity foundation (IBEF), “Over the period between FY16 to FY20, automotive components industry registered a CAGR of 6%, reaching US$ 49.3 billion in FY20, with exports growing at a CAGR of 7.6% during FY16-FY20 to reach US$ 14.5 billion in FY20. Due to high development prospects in all segments of the vehicle industry, the auto component sector is expected to rise by double digits in FY22.” The above data is showcasing the increase in exports and revenue generation, and subsequently the production activities in both the automotive components and automobile sector and is expected to drive the demand for Heat-treated steel plates market during the forecast period.

Heat-treated Steel Plates Market Segment Analysis – By End-Use Industry

The Automotive segment held the largest share of 41% in the Heat-treated Steel Plates market in 2021. Heat-treated Steel is considered to be a sustainable material due to recyclability. Therefore, rising concerns over environmental pollution, service life, and driving comfort are expected to drive the demand for heat treated steel plates in the automotive segment. In the automotive industry, case hardening is largely used to enhance hardness, static and dynamic strength of components over quench and hardened steel as they are not sufficient to withstand bending and rotational stress. Various grades of steel plates are utilized in large number of trucks, automotive components, and structural parts of railways. Moreover, rising demand for tools that are used in various operations, like cutting, drilling, various movements, deformation, knurling, and others is anticipated to remain a key factor contributing to the segment growth over the coming years. In this segment, industrial machines consume a large amount of heat treated steel as they provide hardness, strength, and machinability. Secondly, Aerospace and Defense holds the next largest share in the end-use industry for the Heat-treated steel plates. The leading manufacturer of aerospace and defense within the world, Boeing, had a revenue of USD 58.16 billion during the year 2020, which has reduced compared to the previous year’s USD 76.56 billion. Overall, the market for Heat-treated Steel Plates in the aerospace industry is expected to recover gradually through the forecast period, and grow consistently.

Heat-treated Steel Plates Market Segment Analysis – By Geography

Asia-Pacific region held the largest share in the Heat-treated Steel Plates market in 2021 up to 44%, owing to the accelerating Industrial, Construction and Automotive sectors in the region. Asia-Pacific is the leading market for heat-treated steel plates followed by North America. Asia-Pacific dominates the heat-treated steel plate market due to easy availability of raw materials in this region. China is the largest automobile manufacturer in the Asia-Pacific region and is among the leaders in the global automotive and auto-components market. Asia-Pacific has become an area of immense potential and opportunities, due to the extensive demand for Industrial, Automotive and Construction in the countries, such as India and China. China is the world's largest vehicle market, according to the International Trade Administration (ITA), and the Chinese government expects automobile manufacturing to reach 35 million by 2025. According to OICA, 2020 marked the worst crises ever to impact the automotive industry. Meanwhile Asia resisted reasonably well, with a decline of only 10%. In particular, China, which was hit hard in 2020’s first months, recovered very quickly; all in all, the Chinese reduction in production has been limited to only 2%. Asia remains by far the world’s largest producing region for both automotive components and automobile industries, with 57% share of global production. Due to all such factors, the market for Heat-treated steel plate in this region is expected to have a steady growth during the forecast period.

Heat-treated Steel Plates Market Drivers

Increase in production activities in the automobile sector.

Globalization, industrialization, digitalization and increasing competition are pressing the face of the industry. In addition, increasing safety requirements and voluntary environmental commitments by the automotive industry have also contributed to the changes ahead. According to Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles (OICA), there has been a global production of 40,338,546 vehicles in 2021, which shows a significant surge compared to the year 2020, where there was a production of 31,22,533, after it suffered a fall from 46,074647 in 2019, due to the covid-19 pandemic. Proving the capacity of automobile industry to recover in spite of a global crises, consequently maintaining a market demand for Heat-treated steel plates as well. 

Increased demand for Heat-treated steel plates by the growing global economy.

The Heat-treated Steel Plates market is rising in demand, thanks to the rapidly rising demand for Heat-treated Steel Plates in various applications like the energy, power and aerospace industries. The rising importance of air cargo delivery alongside with the growing number of air passengers is additionally anticipated to flourish the demand of the aircrafts and consequently the Heat-treated Steel Plates market and is additionally projected to grow substantially during the forecast period. Furthermore, the Increasing worldwide demand for power, mostly within the emerging economies like in the Asia and Africa and therefore the increasing technological innovation is also expected to push the expansion of Heat-treated Steel Plates market in the above mentioned forecast period. 

Heat-treated Steel Plates Market Challenges

Volatile Steel Prices

The demand for Steel in the domestic and global market was affected largely by the second wave of Covid-19, which reflected in a high price fluctuation. And the price is usually expected to soar high during the summer. According to Steel Bench marker datasheet, Global Steel plate price in November 2020 was US$660 Per Net Ton  and in November 2021, it was US$1806 Per Net Ton, showing the price have almost tripled within a year. Moreover, the pries have been noticed to raise or fall every two weeks from 1-7%. Such high volatility in prices of steel would affect the heat-treated steel plates market during the forecast period. 

Heat-treated Steel Plates Industry Outlook

Technology launches, acquisitions, and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the Heat-treated Steel Plates market top companies are:

1. ArcelorMittal
2. Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation
3. Posco
4. JFE Holdings
5. Thyssenkrupp AG
6. Baosteel
7. Tata Steel
8. Novolipetsk Steel
9. Outokumpu
10. Vitkovice Steel
11. Hyundai Steel
12. Essar Steel

Recent Developments 

On December 2019, ArcelorMittal completed the acquisition of Essar Steel India Limited (ESIL), also established a joint venture with Nippon Steel Corporation (Nippon Steel), called as ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India Limited (AM/NS India), who will own and operate Essar Steel India Limited. ArcelorMittal holds a share percentage of 60% and Nippon Steel holding 40%. This acquisition and joint venture is remarkable in the Heat-treated steel plates market as it includes three of the world’s top companies, increasing the competition for other companies. 

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