Steel News Roundup

SHANGHAI, Apr 12 (SMM) — This is a roundup of news in the steel industry for last week.

48 environmental violation cases reported in Tangshan during April 1-4

A total of 19.2 million yuan of fine was imposed on Tangshan Medium Thick Plate Co., Ltd., Tangshan Delong Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., Tangshan Yanshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., Hebei Rongxin Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., Tangshan Songting Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., Tangshan Fengnan Jingan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., Tangshan Ganglu Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. , Tangshan Donghua Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., Tangshan Fengnan Kaiheng Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., Tangshan Chunxing Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., Tangshan Jinxi Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., Tangshan Jinma Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., and Tangshan Stainless Steel Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. Hebei Xinda Iron and Steel Group, Tangshan Jinma Steel Group, Tangshan Medium Thick Plate Co., Ltd., and Tangshan Songting Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. had their pollution discharge permits revoked and suspended operations due to online monitoring fraud.

The third batch of the second round of central ecological and environmental protection inspectors fully launched

The third batch of the second round of inspection was implemented according to Environmental Protection Inspection Work Regulations approved by the Party Central Committee and the State Council. Eight central ecological and environmental protection inspection teams will carry out inspections for about one month in 8 provinces (regions) including Shanxi, Liaoning, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hunan, Guangxi, and Yunnan.

Property market in many regions will cool down amid stricter regulations

Since April, many cities have continuously improved the property market regulation and control policies in school district housing, second-hand housing transactions, and the phenomenon of “selling out on opening day”. According to expert analysis, the intensive policies are filling the leaks of previous regulations, and demonstrate the firm position of the regulatory authorities to act in a timely manner to stabilise market expectations. It is conducive to preventing the local real estate market from overheating. The increase in housing price is expected to slow down.

Five listed banks exceeded personal mortgages

With the promulgation of new regulations on the concentration of real estate loans last year, the proportion of housing loans in the 2020 annual reports of listed banks became the market focus. According to the annual reports of 14 large state-owned banks and joint-stock banks, the proportion of real estate loans or personal mortgages have exceeded the standard at China Construction Bank, Postal Savings Bank, China Merchants Bank, China Citic Bank, Société Générale. Industry insiders pointed out that real estate market will be the focus of supervision in 2021. Banks that exceed the red line need to be rectified during the transition period, but the pressure is not great. However, the growth of bank-related housing loans that is approaching the red line will be under pressure.

Production restrictions in Tangshan reduced 1.74 million mt of pig iron output in March

According to the production of 26 steel plants involving 127 blast furnaces in Tangshan, SMM estimated that the actual pig iron output in Tangshan was 8.33 million mt in March under the environmental protection policies, a decrease by about 17% from 10.07 million mt in February. The demand for iron ore declined by 2.96 million mt, resulting in the poor sales of domestic iron ore concentrates in Tangshan, and some local traders sold them to the steel mills in Shandong and other southern regions.

The environmental protection inspections in Tangshan remain strict. If a company fails to meet environmental protection standards, its grade of environmental protection will be lowered, and the production will be further reduced. On the other hand, if a company's environmental protection is improved, it will be up-graded and increase production. In the end of March, the grade of Tangshan Zongheng Group’s Fengnan Steel was lowered from B- to D, and the grades of Tangshan Ruifeng Iron and Steel, Tianzhu Iron and Steel, and Donghai Special Steel were lowered from C to D.

SMM estimates that the environmental production restrictions in Tangshan will affect 26.61 million mt of pig iron output from April 1 to December 31 , equivalent to the demand of 45.24 million mt of iron ore.