China needs to close more than 200 million tons of steel capacity

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China has calculated that in the coming years it is necessary to reduce the country's steelmaking capacity by at least 200 million tons. This was announced by Luo Teirong, deputy head of the raw materials department at the ministry.

He explained that with the projected domestic consumption of steel at the level of 650 - 700 million tons and exports of 100 million tons, the volume of steel production should remain at 800 million tons.

Today, the PRC has 1.2 billion tons of steelmaking capacity, therefore, it is necessary to eliminate at least 200 million, the official said.

“If steel production remains at 800 million tons, we need to reduce the capacity by 200 million tons to make the situation with excess capacity acceptable,” Luo Teirong said.

Earlier, the Chinese government announced a plan to reduce 100-150 million tons of steelmaking capacity in the next 3-5 years. Most likely, these figures will be corrected on the eve of China's obtaining the status of a country with a market economy.