Steel News Roundup

Shandong plans to relocate and eliminate 21.41 million mt of steelmaking capacity and 22.38 million mt of iron-making capacity by 2022  

Shandong plans to relocate and eliminate 21.41 million mt of steelmaking capacity and 22.38 million mt of ironmaking capacity by 2022. Among them, all the steel capacity across the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei air pollution transmission channel cities (excluding Laiwu District and Gangcheng District of Jinan City) will be relocated and eliminated, with a total steelmaking capacity of 18.86 million mt and iron-making capacity of 19.75 million mt. 

In addition, 2.55 million mt of steelmaking capacity and 2.63 million mt of ironmaking capacity outside the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei air pollution transmission channel cities will be relocated and eliminated. A total of 4.65 million mt of steelmaking capacity and 5.07 million mt of iron-making capacity will be eliminated in 2021, while 16.76 million mt of steelmaking capacity and 17.31 million mt of iron-making capacity will be eliminated in 2022. Steel capacity in areas along the Jiaoji Railway is encouraged to be relocated and eliminated in advance. 

According to SMM survey, with the exception of Qilu Special Steel and Xiwang Special Steel, who currently have no capacity replacement plans, all other steel mills will complete capacity transfer or replacement within the next two years. Steel mills that do not have replacement plans indicated that whether to withdraw capacity in the future will depend on specific policies.

The new version of the "Implementation Measures for Capacity Replacement in the Iron and Steel Industry" has passed the solicitation of opinions and revisions, and is currently in the final process. This means that China’s steel production capacity replacement will start again after the project filing work has been suspended 1.5 years since the beginning of 2020. An authoritative insider said that some deep-seated contradictions in the steel industry have not yet been fundamentally resolved.

400,000 DWT iron ore berth at Zhanjiang Port approved

The upgrade and reconstruction project of the bulk cargo berth in Xiashan Port Area of Zhanjiang Port has been approved by the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission, which will expand the throughput of the berth from 300,000 DWT to 400,000 DWT. 

Construction of the project will start in May and be completed in June. Meanwhile, the construction of a 400,000 mt navigation channel at Zhanjiang Port will also be completed in June. After the completion of the two projects, Zhanjiang Port will become the first world-class deep-water port in the south-west coast that could accommodate a 400,000 DWT vessel.  

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