Tangshan to deepen production curbs till end-Jul

SHANGHAI, Jul 22 (SMM) – Tangshan, top steelmaking hub in China, will deepen its production curbs on heavy industries across the region from Sunday July 21 to the end of this month, in view of weather conditions that impede air diffusion.

This is according to the official notice issued on Saturday July 20, and would come on top of the curtailments in the city’s smog control plan for July.

During this period, Shougang Qian’an which has an A-grade, Shougang Jingtang, Wenfeng Steel, Tanggang Medium & Heavy Plate, Delong Steel and Zongheng Steel who are located along the coast and Tianzhu Steel, Huaxi Steel, Guoyi Special Steel who are set to move to rural areas are required to cut capacity of sintering machines and shaft furnaces by 20%.

Other steelmakers in Tangshan are required to suspend sintering machines, shaft furnaces and blast furnaces during July 26-28, and cut capacity of sintering machines and shaft furnaces by 50% or 70% during July 21-25 and July 29-31.

Steel rolling mills are required to close during July 26-28.

It was heard that the general manager of Tangyin Steel, owned by the Tangshan Iron and Steel Group, was detained after his plant was found to fail to carry out a mandatory 50% cut.