SHANGHAI, Nov 14 (SMM) – The top Chinese steelmaking city of Tangshan ordered some steel mills to temporarily shut more blast furnaces because of bad weather conditions, SMM learned.

On top of existing output curbs, Jinxi Steel shut a blast furnace of 450 m³ and Xinda Steel shut one of 1,080 m³. Xinglong Steel also suspended a blast furnace. The suspension started on Tuesday November 13 and it remains unknown when the authorities would lift the order.

Many northern cities issued heavy pollution alerts earlier this week after the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) warned that heavy pollution would hit the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and Fenwei Plain during November 13-15.

Under the alert, the local governments would enforce emergency smog reduction measures to cut pollutant emissions by 10-15%.

On Tuesday night, Li Ganjie, head of the MEE, made an unannounced visit to Baoding city of Hebei province to inspect the enforcement of emergency smog reduction measures.