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The steady commissioning of new and advanced coal capacity across China has lifted the number of mega coal mines in operation with capacities exceeding 10 million tonnes/year to 52 as of early July, a large increase on the 44 mega mines working as at end-2019, according to a report by China National Coal Association (CNCA) published on July 9.
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Despite the COVID-19 wreaking havoc across much of China during the first half of 2020, steel enterprises had been steadily progressing with the 38 ongoing new steel projects including installing new steelmaking and rolling facilities, adding on environmental protection facilities and upgrading assorted technology, according to a Mysteel report checking on the status of ongoing projects by the end of H1.
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China is steadily installing more clean energy houses as part of its energy evolution efforts, and China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG) just commissioned two of the 12 generators in Wudongde Hydropower Station, the country’s fourth largest hydropower house, on June 30, according to a CTG release.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a devastating impact worldwide including the ASEAN region, but with the prompt and effective coping measures, the prognosis for the steel industry in the region in the post-pandemic era might not be as bleak as expected, Yeoh Wee Jin, secretary general of the South East Asia Iron & Steel Institute (SEAISI), shared when presenting at the 2020 SEAISI e-Conference on June 30.
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Guangxi Liuzhou Iron & Steel Group (Liugang), headquartered in Liuzhou city, Southwest China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, commissioned the first phase of its two-phase greenfield steelworks on June 28 in Fangchenggang, a coastal city in Guangxi, according to a video of the commissioning ceremony posted by the company on the same day.
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China is determined to complete its campaign of cutting excessive capacity in certain industries including steel and coal in 2020, the final year of the capacity reduction campaign started 2016, the country’s top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), announced in a notice on June 18. The campaign is proceeding, even though the country is still threatened by a reoccurrence of COVID-19, according to the notice.
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Japan’s crude steel output for the fiscal 2020 (April 2020-March 2021) may decline to around 80 million tonne from the 98.43 million tonnes for FY19, predicted Eiji Hashimoto, the newly-appointed chairman of the Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) on June 16 after the first press conference as chairman.
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Six Chinese steel producers including China Baowu Steel Group (Baowu) and Hebei Iron & Steel Group (HBIS) are listed among the world’s top ten steel producers in terms of their 2019 crude steel production, the same number included in the 2018 ranking, according to tables released by the World Steel Association (WSA) on June 3.
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Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest integrated mill, has delayed the banking of No.2 furnace at its Kimitsu works near Tokyo by about a month until mid-June, as it has not been able to fulfill the signed contracts by mid-May, the company’s spokeswoman explained on June 4.
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China’s core coal mining province, Shanxi, plans to eliminate all coal mines under 600,000 tonnes/year capacity by the end of 2020, as part of the province’s three-year campaign over 2020-2022 to enhance safety in the industry, according to the plan recently released by the provincial government.
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Despite a formal government notice circulated in the market on May 30, none of the 21 steel mills in Tangshan of North China’s Hebei province have been carrying out a range of 20%-50% cuts on their sintering, pelletizing and blast furnace capacities as speculated by June 2, local industry sources confirmed.
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Government officials responsible for mine safety in Datong in North China’s Shanxi province have ordered mine operators to put 20 local coal mines temporarily into care and maintenance starting May 12 for the duration of this month’s Two Sessions political meetings in Beijing, according to market sources. The order, issued to ensure that no incident disrupts proceedings of the country’s two top-level political events, could impact some 66.2 million tonnes/year of coal capacity if the directive is strictly implemented, they suggest.
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Clear evidence has emerged that Japan’s steelmakers are slashing production this quarter, as the mills ratchet back in response to the COVID-19 outbreak and the hole that this has punched in domestic and export steel demand.
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China’s local authorities are not ready to surrender and admit their failure to achieve the 60% consolidation target in China’s steel industry by 2020 mainly via mergers and acquisitions even though there are only eight months for them to work towards the ambition and despite that China’s top ten steel mills contributed to only 36.6% of the country’s 996 million tonnes of crude steel output for 2019.
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In response to steep decline in domestic steel demand, Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest integrated steel mill, announced on May 8 to bring forward the banking of another blast furnace and a furnace relining both to July from the originally-planned dates, which may cut off another 220,000 tonnes/month steel output.
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Yoshihisa Kitano, chairman of the Japan Iron & Steel Federation (JISF) and president of JFE Steel, warned that Japan’s steel demand in April-June would run into “an unprecedented difficult period”, and it is important to adjust the output in accordance with the actual demand, according to a JISF statement in Japanese on April 24.
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Tangshan city, China’s top steel producing city in North China’s Hebei province, is promoting the development of its coastal Caofeidian district on the city’s southern outskirts, unveiling plans on April 20 that include the establishment of a 20 million tonnes/year production base for high quality steel, with more mills being encouraged to relocate there from the city centre, Mysteel Global has learned.
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The China Coal Transportation and Distribution Association (CCTD) has suggested that its member companies cut coking coal production by 10% effective through May, pointing out that the sustained decline in coking coal prices has placed the industry in an extremely tough situation, according to a statement posted on the CCTD’s website on April 18.
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Rizhao Steel Holding Group Co (Rizhao Steel), a privately-owned steel producer in East China’s Shandong province, plans to commission its fifth Endless Strip Production (ESP) line to expand the steel producer’s hot-rolled coil/strip capacity to 12.5 million tonnes/year, a company official confirmed on April 16.
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A Chinese government-backed thinktank has begun the formal process of tightening rules and closing loopholes in the country’s long established ‘capacity swap’ system governing the installation of upstream and downstream steel facilities.
