A spokesman for China's Ministry of Environmental Protection recently announced that the hot rolled strip project of Rizhao Steel Group and the steel project of Weifang Steel Group for an annual capacity of five million mt are in violation of the state policies and development plans for the steel industry, since the companies in question started construction and commenced production without the evaluation and approval of the environmental protection authorities. In order to strengthen the supervision on environmental protection and to punish the violation of environmental laws, China's Ministry of Environmental Protection has decided to suspend the approval of environmental impact of steel projects in Shandong Province, where the two projects in question are located.
The ministerial spokesman pointed that, characterized by high energy consumption and high pollution, China's steel industry is facing the problems of overcapacity and a high proportion of dated capacities. Thus, the purpose of suspending the approval process is to enforce Shandong's implementation of plans for restructuring and invigorating the Chinese steel industry.
Weifang Steel Group worked on the construction of its steel project in the year 1995-2009, in contravention of the development plan of Chinese steel industry.
Rizhao Steel Group's hot rolled strip project includes six 180 m2 and two 360 m2 sintering machines, eight 1,080 m3 blast furnaces, four 120 mt converters, and one 2,150 mm hot rolled strip production line. Without approval from the environmental protection authorities, the mill started construction work in 2006, and, excepting the 2,150 mm hot rolled strip production line, all other equipments have now been put into production.