Tangshan drafts air pollution control plans for Sept
For the steel industry during the first phase spanning September 1-25, 33 steelmakers will be divided into two groups, with each required to observe different curbs. The first group comprises 16 steel mills including Shougang Qian'an Iron & Steel Co – which last year became the only mill in Tangshan to have met Beijing’s ultra-low emission standards – and mills located in coastal areas such as Shougang Jingtang United Iron & Steel Co. Mills in this group are only required to curb sintering operations by 20%.
The remaining 17 steelmakers in the second group face tougher restrictions, according to the document, being required to restrict their sintering, blast furnace and lime kiln operative capacities by 30%.
In the second phase during September 26-October 4, steel producers in the first group will need to wind back sintering operations a little to 30% of operative capacity, while the second group of makers must to elevate the curbs on their sintering and lime kiln operations to 50%. The ratio on blast furnaces remains the same at 30%, however.
Many domestic market insiders described the draft production restrictions as being far more lenient than they had expected. “I thought the government would impose very strict measures on cities near Beijing to make sure the sky is blue when China celebrates its 70th anniversary (on October 1),” a market watcher based in East China’s Zhejiang province said. “But now it turns out that they (the measures) are even less severe than those imposed for this month.”
Mysteel estimates that the proposed restrictions on steel mills will reduce molten iron output by 58,500 tonnes/day, some 18,000 t/d less than the affected volumes in August. The capacity utilization rate of 138 blast furnaces in Tangshan is expected to rebound to around 85% next month, up 9% from the current level.
Tangshan steelmakers contacted by Mysteel Global on Tuesday had not received any official notice from the government as regards the new curbing measures, though they admitted to being aware of the draft.
“This is a proposal, so I guess that it is still subject to revisions and so was not issued to us,” an official from one of the steel producers maintained, saying that she is unsure whether additional emergency measures will be introduced when air quality turns to poor.
Tangshan, home to about 120 million tonnes of steel capacity or 15% of China’s total, is a key battlefield of Beijing’s fight against air pollution as the city always sits at the bottom of Beijing’s monthly air-quality ranking.
In July, Tangshan again ranked last in terms of air quality among the 168 monitored Chinese cities, according to the latest monthly report published by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on August 27.
Written by Olivia Zhang, zhangwd@mysteel.com
Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
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