Characteristic Analysis of the Evolution of the Temporal and Spatial Patterns of China’s Iron and Steel Industry from 2005 to 2023

Optimizing the layout of major productive forces is key in the advancement of high-quality economic development and will inevitably drive significant changes in the spatial pattern of China’s iron and steel enterprises. This study selects 2005, 2010, 2014, 2020, and 2023 as time nodes during the period from the Tenth to the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan, analyzing the spatial evolution pattern and agglomeration characteristics from multiple scales of China’s iron and steel industry over the past 20 years by adopting various mathematical and theoretical methods. The results show that the distribution characteristics of “gradient” are reduced in the east, middle, and west from the perspective of the belt scale. There are notable differences in the spatial agglomeration of different types of iron and steel member units, except for the trade-type iron and steel member units; for example, on the national scale, iron and steel member units as a whole show a spatial distribution trend of “Northeast–Southwest”. There are a large number of production-type enterprise units displaying obvious relative concentrations and geographies; the movement trend of the regional centre of gravity can first be found in the southwest, moving then to the northeast and finally to the southwest. Based on this study, coastal and existing production bases should further improve environmental regulations, increase structural adjustment, and better play the role of demonstration and drive.