The 2026 CSSC Welding Materials Day Event Held in Wuhan

“Our pricing standard for welding materials is simple—70% of the price of similar imported products. When foreign manufacturers saw what we had developed, their prices dropped immediately; this has happened several times.” At the 2026 China State Shipbuilding Corporation Welding Materials Day event, Yang Guanxiong, chairman of Wuhan Iron Anchor Welding Materials Co., Ltd. (referred to as CSSC Iron Anchor Welding Materials), explained.

He demonstrated a set of data to reporters: In 2025, China's total welding material output was approximately 5.3 million tons, accounting for about half of global production. However, there was a significant gap between the average price of imported welding materials and the price of exported materials. The reason lies in China's welding material exports, which mainly consist of mid- and low-range general-purpose products, while imports are focused on high-end special welding materials used in fields such as nuclear power, aerospace, and marine engineering, with small volume but high prices. Domestic production of high-end welding materials is not only essential for cost reduction but also a necessary choice to ensure the security of the industrial supply chain.

On October 10, the 2026 China State Shipbuilding Corporation Welding Materials Day event was held in Wuhan. With the theme "CSSC Welding Materials—Iron Anchor Brand," the event was hosted by China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited (CSSC), and organized by CSSC Wuhan Marine Machinery Company, a subsidiary of CSSC, as well as CSSC Iron Anchor Welding Materials. Over 200 representatives from government departments, industry associations, research institutes, universities, and relevant enterprises gathered in Wuhan to discuss innovative development in new welding materials.

If the power unit is the heart of major national tools, then the structural connections built by welding materials serve as the backbone and foundation. Welding materials may seem like basic accessories, but they are indispensable key supports in high-end manufacturing. Their quality directly determines the safety and life cycle of equipment structures. CSSC Iron Anchor Welding Materials specializes deeply in this field.

For nearly 70 years, the company has focused on the ship and offshore engineering sector while expanding into diverse fields such as bridge steel structures, rail transit, and energy storage and transportation. It has developed a comprehensive product lineup, including welding rods, flux-cored wires, solid wires, submerged arc wires, and fluxes, providing high-reliability welding materials for major national projects. Currently, the company has successfully developed a series of high-end products such as FCB (one-side submerged arc welding method with flux-copper backing) welding materials, nickel-based welding materials, next-generation high-speed flat fillet flux-cored wires, 90 kg-grade high-strength steel compatible welding materials, 3D printing compatible welding materials, and ultra-low temperature high manganese steel compatible welding materials. Many technological achievements have reached world-leading levels. It owns more than 120 authorized invention patents, has participated in the formulation of over 20 national and industry standards, and has received over 20 provincial and ministerial science and technology progress awards. High-tech products account for over 80%, continuously leading the industry with core technological competitiveness.

In the digitized production workshop for flux-cored wires at CSSC Iron Anchor Welding Materials, the newly integrated rolling and drawing process consolidates multiple steps such as steel strip cleaning, forming, and drawing; the intelligent scheduling system and quality control system together form the production line’s "smart brain," enabling online data collection and process monitoring from raw material entry to finished product release. This ensures traceable production and controllable quality. It is understood that this digitized production line uses the most advanced domestic technology available and reduces labor costs by over 40%, increases capacity by about 20%, and saves 28% in electricity consumption through photovoltaic and energy-saving equipment, achieving green and low-carbon production.

During the signing session, CSSC Iron Anchor Welding Materials signed contracts for FCB welding materials with CSSC Dalian Shipbuilding and CSSC Materials Company, signed a high-speed flat fillet flux-cored wire contract with CSSC Chengxi Shipbuilding, and signed annual framework agreements with Yangzhou COSCO and Anhui Honglu Group, deepening collaborative efforts in shipbuilding, renewable energy equipment, and other fields to continuously expand new application scenarios for domestic welding materials.

At the event, relevant leaders from CSSC, Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, and the Chinese Welding Association attended and delivered speeches. Industry experts gave keynote presentations on topics such as the current status and development trends of China's welding materials industry, the collaborative iteration of high manganese steel and welding materials empowering clean energy storage tank development, and the new demands extreme environments place on welding materials. In the afternoon, attendees visited CSSC Wuhan Marine Machinery Company and CSSC Iron Anchor Welding Materials factory for a close look at the research and production capabilities of domestic high-end welding materials.

As an important practice in brand building and industry collaboration under CSSC’s new materials segment, this Welding Materials Day event combined multiple functions such as results showcasing, technical discussions, project signing, on-site inspections, and business networking. It served as a key window to demonstrate CSSC's achievements in independently controlled welding materials technology and as a collaborative platform connecting all industrial chain stakeholders. The event further enhanced the reputation and influence of CSSC’s new materials industry, polished the “Iron Anchor” brand, and promoted the integration and collaboration of the welding materials industry chain to strengthen its ecosystem.