China is fighting hard to deal with the rising level of air pollution from coal and steel producing units. After carrying out stringent production cuts and closure of polluting coal and steel units across the country over past two years, various cities in China has also set out their plans for the coming years to have a cleaner environment.
One such city is Tangshan which is situated in Hebei province and is counted as China’s one of the top steelmaking areas. According to the industry sources, this week Tangshan has announced its plans to halve the number of steel producers in the city by 2020. The city which is home to 64 steelmakers has produced 92.7 MnT of steel in 2017 (11% of China’s total steel output) aims to have less than 30 steel mills by 2020 and cut it further to around 25 by 2025.
Tangshan also plans to phase out blast furnaces with an annual production capacity of less than 1 MnT by 2020 and converters used in steelmaking, with an annual capacity below 1.15 MnT and sintering machines smaller than 180 square meters are also planned to be scrapped.
The city has also ordered companies in the steel, coke and coal-fired power sectors to meet ultra-low emissions targets. While steel mills are given time until Oct’18 to meet these targets coke and coal-fired power plants are given deadline till Sep’18. In case of failure in meeting these targets within the deadline, companies will be ordered to shut down for rectification. Also, the companies that will pass the emission checks before Oct’18 will be exempted from or ordered to implement fewer production during winters in 2019-20.
Tangshan is one of China’s smoggiest cities although it has cut its concentration of small breathable particles, known as PM2.5, by 11% last year. Last year the city has ordered production cuts of 50% for its steel mills during winters and has extended the same this year till Nov’18 at a lower rate of 10-15%.
Tangshan city’s latest plan is in line with Hebei province’s target of curbing 40 MnT of steel smelting capacity during 2018-2020. The province aims to have just 60 steel enterprises by the end of the decade, with 90% of capacity controlled by its top 15 firms. As per the plan the city aims to slash 50% of steel capacities in some of its major cities by 2020 and Tangshan is one such city that is included in this list.
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