It is reported that Tangshan, Handan and Chengde in China’s leading steel province Hebei began to tear down 10 blast furnaces and 16 converters of 8 steelmakers, leading the trend of dissolving overcapacity, which has drawn the attention from all walks of life in a short time.

Hebei’s steel output has been in the top level in China for 12 consecutive years. Now, it’s steel capacity hits 0.2 billion tonnes. The State Council decided to compass the steel capacity by 80 million tonnes within five years, of which 60 million tonnes should be compassed from Hebei province.  

This action will reduce 4.56 million tonnes of ironmaking capacity and 6.8 million tonnes of steelmaking capacity and can therefore reduce 2.76 million tonnes of coal consumption, 9,800 tonnes of sulfur dioxide discharge as well as dust discharge each year.

What’s more, Hebei will pay more attention to dissolving overcapacity, accelerating the industry transformation and upgrading and improving the air quality in accordance with the overall requirement of “digest a batch of outdated capacity, transfer a batch of that, integrate a batch of that and eliminate a batch of that”.

Steel industry is the first pillar industry in Hebei province as well as the key point in solving the problem of overcapacity and the job of prevention and treatment of air pollution. Since the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, Hebei has eliminated 39 blast furnaces and 47 converters which has already reduced 11.81 million tonnes of ironmaking capacity and 17.16 million tonnes of steelmaking capacity. The insider source said that it is better to shut down these small steelmakers rather than let them pollute the air.