From the global trend of special steel patent applications, the number of special steel patent applications worldwide has remained above a thousand per year in the past 20 years. From the distribution of patent regions, Japan accounts for over 70% of the global patent total, China accounts for 10%, and other countries account for less than 5%.

The world's special steel production is mainly concentrated in countries such as China, Japan, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, South Korea, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Spain, etc., whose special steel production accounts for about 70% of the global special steel production and more than 90% of the global trade volume. Japan, Germany, and Sweden are the countries with the highest overall level of special steel industry, accounting for over 60% of global trade volume.

The main consumer markets for special steel in China currently are the automotive and mechanical industries, with the automotive industry accounting for about 40% and the mechanical industry accounting for about 32%. In addition, special steel is widely used in industries such as railway locomotives, ships, energy and power, and aerospace.

The automotive industry is currently the most important application field of special steel, and steel is the most important material for automobiles, accounting for more than 70% of the body weight, with special steel accounting for over 60%.