December 04, 2008

Guangdong announces obsolete steel capacity elimination plans

It is reported that Guangdong provincial government issued an executive plan October 18th 2007 for shutting down and eliminating outdated steel capacities for the period ended 2010, requiring all municipal governments and departments to implement and report up the problems they face.

The plan is aimed to shut down and eliminate 1.62 million tonnes iron smelting and 15 million tonnes steel making capacities during the 11th five year period.

The plan outlines phasing out as under
1. 2007 - Below 10 tonnes electric arc furnaces & converter and 10 cubic meter or smaller blast furnaces. 100,000 tonnes iron smelting and 300,000 tonnes steel making capacities.
2. 2008 - Below 10 tonnes electric arc furnaces & converter and 10 cubic meter or smaller blast furnaces. 370,000 tonnes of iron making and 1.91 million tonnes of steel making capacities.
3. 2009 - Electric furnaces and converters with volume between 10 tonnes to 15 tonnes will be eliminated and 2.77 million tonnes steel making capacities shut down or out
4. 2010 - Below 20 tonnes electric furnace and converter, blast furnace with volume between 100 cubic meters to 300 cubic meters should be closed.

The plan prescribes to differentiate electricity price, set environment protection standards, supervise product quality and production safety, strengthen taxation and credit management to carry on the elimination campaign.

In a bid to achieve expected results all governmental departments are asked to make its unique function, and over this period, municipalities should submit 1H implementation situation and problems to the provincial development and reform commission before July 15th 2007 each year and the whole year situation before December 31st 2007.

(Sourced from MySteel.net)