On Friday, China’s capital Beijing issued its first air pollution alert for the winter season ahead of a wave of smog that is expected to blanket the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region for the next three days.
The yellow level alert, the third-highest in China’s pollution warning system, was issued by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment for the period from Nov. 24 to Nov. 26.
Construction sites and heavy industry will have to halt operations over the period, while the city will increase checks on diesel vehicles and outdoor barbecue restaurants to ensure they meet emission standards. At least 28 cities in Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, and Henan province have also issued orange-level smog alerts, the second-most severe after red, for the same three-day period, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said.
On 22 Nov’18, China’s top steelmaking province Hebei has already issued second-level smog alerts to its 10 cities. The alert came as the provincial environmental bureau expects a wave of air pollution from Nov. 24 to 27. Heavy industry in the province will have to enforce emergency measures, including cutting output and reducing material transportation, during the alerts.
According to reports, cities were asked to increase the supervision of their emergency measures and will be allowed to lift the alert when air quality shows improvement.
Capacity cuts in Hebei’s Tangshan city
In 2018, Hebei’s one of top steel producing city, Tangshan has reduced its steelmaking capacity by 5 MnT and ironmaking capacity of 2.8 MnT, exceeding the province’s annual task of capacity reduction. By December 2020, steel enterprises in Tangshan city shall be integrated from forty to within thirty enterprises and steel capacity shall be controlled around 0.1 billion tonnes.
Unlike last winter, China has allowed cities and provinces to set their own steel output restrictions this year based on their emission levels, ditching across-the-board limits.
CISA’s views on production cuts during winters heating season
CISA’s (China Iron and Steel Association) Secretary General Liu Zhengjiang is of the opinion that compared with last year, mills may not be forced to reduce capacity at a certain proportion in 2018. The degree of capacity reduction depends on whether the air condition is good or not. He also added that the mills which comply with emission standard will be exempted this year.
The steel prices in China have seen correction over past few weeks with the winter heating season kicking in which leads to slowdown in country’s construction activities and also due to tepid demand in China’s auto and white goods sector. On the supply side, as output cuts are not going to be at similar levels as previous year, chances are high that prices may not see an uptrend in near future.
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