SHANGHAI, Jan 25 (SMM) — This is a roundup of news in the steel industry for last week.

China Baowu strives for "carbon peak" by 2023 and "carbon neutrality" by 2050

On January 20, China Baowu announced its carbon emission reduction target: release a low-carbon metallurgy roadmap in 2021, achieve carbon peak in 2023, have the ability to reduce carbon by 30% by 2025, reduce carbon by 30% by 2035, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

The 2020 Central Economic Work Conference also clearly identified carbon peak and carbon neutrality as one of the eight key tasks in 2021. Many industry experts also said that the steel industry must take the lead in achieving the goal of carbon neutrality in 2060. As an energy intensive industry, the steel industry is the largest producer of carbon emissions among 31 categories of manufacturing, accounting for about 15% of China's total carbon emissions. In recent years, although the steel industry has made great efforts in energy saving and emission reduction, and the intensity of carbon emissions has been declining year by year. However, due to the large volume and the particularity of the production process, the pressure on total carbon emissions control is still huge.

Baosteel Desheng to commission No. 4 2500 m³ blast furnace before July 1

On January 14, Baosteel Desheng Stainless Steel capped the shell of its No. 4 blast furnace in Fujian province. The project, which is a replacement of Shang Steel No.1 Factory, will have an annual output of 2.24 million mt of molten pig iron.

The National Mine Safety Supervision Bureau to conduct comprehensive inspections on all non-coal mines

The National Mine Safety Supervision Bureau has issued a notice to carry out comprehensive inspections on all non-coal mines so as to eliminate major hidden dangers and effectively prevent and contain major accidents. Production at domestic iron ore mines may be affected as a result.

China's ban lifting on Australian coal in preliminary review

It was reported last week that China is considering lifting the ban on Australian coal and first importing some of the stranded coal in Australia. However, the ban is still effective and any step needs to be approved by top Chinese leaders. Australian coal suppliers said that with the recovery of global economy, they have seen a rebound in demand for coal-fired power generation, and China is purchasing coal from alternative countries instead of Australia with high prices to supplement the domestic shortage of coal production capacity.

Stricter regulations at the Shanghai real estate market

The Shanghai Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Management Committee and other departments jointly issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Stable and Healthy Development of the City's Real Estate Market", which will be implemented on January 22, 2021. The Opinions is clearly in accordance with purchase restriction policy. For couples who purchase commercial houses within 3 years after their divorce, the newly bought houses shall be included in the total housing units owned by them before the divorce. The Opinions stipulates the full collection of value-added tax on the houses for sales that were purchased by the owner less than 5 years ago. It also proposes to strictly regulate the real estate market operation, strengthen the supervision of real estate development enterprises, sales agencies, and real estate agencies, and carry out special rectification on the market order. Shanghai will also improve management of the land market, optimize the structure of land supply, increase the supply of land for commercial housing, guide enterprises to rationally acquire land, and stabilise land prices.

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