Jiangsu likely to cut steel capacity by 34% in winter

SHANGHAI, Oct 26 (SMM) – The government of Jiangsu, China's second largest steelmaking province, has required mills in steel, building materials, coke, foundry, nonferrous, chemical  sectors to cut emissions by 30% or 50% during November 2018-February 2019, according to the official document released last week.

This is estimated to impact pig iron capacity by 29.59 million mt. Production cut at mills are likely to come in at about 34%. Actual cuts are likely to be smaller as mills that meet certain criteria can be exempted from output cutbacks.

Mills in cities whose average particulate concentrations exceeded 60 micrograms per cubic metre in last year's winter would be subject to the 50% cu. This includes Xuzhou, Changzhou, Huai'an, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Taizhou and Suqian.

Average particulate concentrations across Nanjing, Wuxi, Suzhou, Nantong, Lianyungang and Yancheng stood below 60 micrograms per cubic metre last winter, and this allowed mills across those cities to be subject to smaller cuts of 30%.

This round of cuts is in addition to existing capacity cuts in Xuzhou and Changzhou.

There is 109.04 million mt of pig iron capacity across Jiangsu and 86.98 million mt in operation currently, SMM data showed.