Hebei orders 11 Tangshan coke plants idled
The eleven coke plants and another three (already idled businesses) had all been found not to possess valid environmental permits, even though all had been commissioned and were operating. Last year,Tangshan’s environmental authorities had granted them one-year interim pollutant emission permits valid until March-September this year, ordering the coke makers to obtain all necessary environmental permits in the meantime, according to the notification.
The eleven coke plants comprise both independent coke plants and the coke operations owned by Tangshan steel mills.
However, despite failing to receive all the required permits the eleven named coke plants were still in business after September, which seriously contravenes the country’s environmental laws, the provincial department noted. Tangshan city government was requested to initiate the process of formally winding up the coke plants’ business, with the notification warning that any non-performance of this order by the local government or relevant authorities would be reported to the provincial discipline and supervision committees.
According to Mysteel’s survey, the eleven coke plants represent around 15 million tonnes/year of coking capacity. However, 14.4 million t/y of the total remained in operation as of November 24, despite some of named coke plants confirming with Mysteel that they had received the notifications.
As of the morning of November 25, no update of action on those coke plants had been heard.
Tangshan is not only China’s largest steelmaking city but is also the country’s top coke-producing hub, boasting some 34.5 million tonnes/year of coking capacity owned by local steel plants and independent coke makers, according to Mysteel’s data.
China’s coke futures market reacted decisively to the notification Monday. By 11:30 am Beijing time, the price of the most-traded January coke futures contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange ended the morning session at Yuan 1,885.5/tonne ($267.8/t), a remarkable 4.2% or Yuan 75.5/t higher from last Friday’s settlement price.
Written by Sean Xie, xiepy@mysteel.com
Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
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