North Chinese province to cut 14m tons of iron and steel capacity in 2019

SHIJIAZHUANG - Hebei province, China's main iron and steel production base, plans to cut its capacity by 14 million tons this year, its governor announced Monday.

Xu Qin made the announcement Monday when delivering a government work report at the opening of the local legislative session.

Among its prefectural cities, Zhangjiakou, where the Winter Olympics will be held in 2022, and Langfang, which neighbors Beijing, will phase out iron and steel industry this year, Xu said in the report.

Other efforts to fight overcapacity this year include cutting capacity of coal by 10 million tons, cement by 1 million tons, carbon coke by 3 million tons and coal-fired power supply by 500,000 kW, he said.

Hebei and several other regions around Beijing are home to major steelmakers, coal mines and chemical plants. They are at the forefront of the country's fight against air pollution.

According to the report, Hebei cut production capacity of steel by 12.3 million tons, coal by 14 million tons and cement by 3.13 million tons in 2018, which not only contributed to the national target to seek a high-quality economic growth but also helped improve air quality.