Abstract: During the Eighth Five-Year Plan, a number of steam power plants with extra-high pressure, subcritical pressure and large capacities will be constructed and put into opeiation.With the increase in boiler capacity and improvement of the operating parameters, the quality, quantity and size requirements have become higher and higher for the steels especially the boiler tubes for powet plants.The market demands, primary properties, product seties and steel grades of the boiler tubes for power plants are described. It also points out that the situation that high pressure boiler tubes mostly rely on import should be altered as quickly as possible in order to speed up the domestic develop-ment of the tubes and also the measures and suggestions conerned.