Tangshan mills brace for new round of production curbs
Source: Mysteel
Sep 06, 2018 18:20
According to an official document released on Wednesday and confirmed by the local government on Thursday, Tangshan-based steel mills will continue to partly curtail their operative iron-making and steel production capacity for the rest of September, with the severity of the restrictions being no less than in August.
An official with a Tangshan-based steel mill said no official notice from the government had been received but that the mill nevertheless was still limiting pig iron production capacity to the same degree as last month while awaiting further clarification.
“The Tangshan municipal government will need some time to deliver each mill’s specific document to every steel mill,” a Tangshan-based market watcher explained. As of Thursday, only some steel mills have received the notice and are formulating specific production restriction plans on their sintering, pelletizing and blast furnace operations, based on their own situation and also according to each district government’s detailed requirements, he told Mysteel. These plans are then to be reported to the municipal government for authorization, Mysteel notes from the document.
The document also clarifies that the production restriction plan for this winter season for all iron and steel industry enterprises in Tangshan must be formulated before September 20. These are to be officially implemented from October 1 and may last until next March, which means this year’s restriction period will be longer than last year’s.
China’s campaign of restrictions for winter normally spans November 15 to March 15 when air quality in urban centres usually deteriorates, especially in North China, as suburban residents who lack central heating tend to warm their houses using their own coal-fired boilers, Mysteel notes.
Tangshan’s new round of pollution control measures is still aimed at cutting the emission of air pollutants such sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide and particulate matter (PM2.5).
Consequently, local steel mills will have to complete the installation and upgrading of related environmental protection facilities such as the denitration, desulfuration and dedusting facilities in their sintering and pelletizing processes to a certain degree within this month, the notice says.
Over the past several months, steel mills in Tangshan have been under almost constant production curbs, either to cope with a sudden deterioration in air quality or help to cut air pollution for a long period – such as the program the government administered over July 20-August 31, as Mysteel reported.
Tangshan city, the heart of Chinese steelmaking, hosts seven districts, two county-level cities and five counties, owning around 140 million tonnes/year ironmaking capacity, according to Mysteel’s calculations. However, in July the city was ranked the most polluted among the 169 Chinese cities under regular monitoring by the Ministry of Environment and Ecology (MEE), Mysteel notes.
Written by Victoria Zou, zyongjia@mysteel.com
Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
You May Also Like
Steel mills in Linfen of Shanxi to be under curbs again
Sep 19, 2018 18:30
Tangshan mills face a new round of emergency curbs
Sep 18, 2018 21:30
Winter hot-metal losses to be greater this year: pundits
Aug 29, 2018 14:00
MONTHLY: Firm prices net mills, re-rollers more profits
Aug 07, 2018 15:30
China to implement 3-y work plan to fight air pollution
Jun 15, 2018 13:41