Although China's steel industry has passed its period of rapid growth and is about to enter a phase of long-term decline in total demand, the total steel stock in the whole society continues to rise. This creates favorable conditions for the continuous improvement of scrap steel supply capacity required for short-process production technology. With the gradual slowdown of infrastructure construction in China, the national steel demand is expected to peak around 2025 and enter a downward phase. However, in 2020, China's per capita crude steel consumption reached approximately 730 kg, and the per capita steel stock approached 8.3 tons, which has already exceeded the historical peak consumption levels of Europe, the United States and other countries. As the steel that entered the consumption sector in the early stage gradually reaches the end of its service life, an increasing amount of scrap steel resources will be released at an accelerated pace. It is estimated that the annual generation of social scrap steel resources in China will reach 400 million tons by 2030 and 500 million tons by 2050, driving the proportion of electric arc furnace (EAF) steel output from short-process production to rise from about 10% in 2020 to around 60% in 2050 (Chart 3).