China’s Hebei Province has reduced its steel making capacity to 200mn mt in the 13th five-year plan which ended in 2020. The capacity of the province stood at 320mn mt in 2011, according to the information shared by the government last week. In the plan which focused on supply-side reforms, the number of steelmakers in the province went down to 68 from 107 in the period.
In the country’s 14th five-year plan, however, overcapacity reduction will no longer be the core task. China now aims to improve technological competence of their steel to match the global advancements. The focus would also be on cutting down carbon emissions and improve resource utilization. In early 2021, the country allowed imports of ferrous scrap by levying some stringent quality control standards to make the switch to Electric-arc Furnaces from Blast Furnaces.