Spatial Interactions of China's Steel Output: An Empirical Analysis Based on Chinese Inter-provincial Panel Data

In view of the extensive growth of China's steel production in recent years, this paper analyzed the industrial development background and economic geography theory, and discussed the possible spatial interaction mechanism. Based on panel data of China's inter-provincial steel output from 2001 to 2015, using spatial econometric model, this paper also explored whether China's provincial steel production shows material orientation, market orientation and traffic orientation, and isolated spatial interactions of interprovincial steel output. The results showed that the inter-provincial steel production in China did show both material orientation, market orientation and traffic orientation and that there was a significant negative spatial interaction, indicating that there might be strong competition and a crowing-out effect between neighboring provinces, and that the smaller the spatial scope, the more significant the spatial interactions of steel production.