China’s crude steel output amounted to 1.053 billion mt in 2020, up 5.2 percent year on year, according to the data issued by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). In this context, Huang Libin, spokesman for China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has announced that China will aim to reduce its steel output, focusing on four areas in particular. First of all, China will forbid newly-added steel outputs. Secondly, policies and measures will be perfected to avoid inconsistencies in capacity replacement. Thirdly, China will stimulate mergers and acquisitions in the steel industry. Last but not least, capacity utilization rates will be reduced amid control of carbon emissions.
A government consulting firm has forecast that China’s crude steel output will likely rise by 1.4 percent in 2021, while Xiao Yaqing, minister at the MIIT, said China will take strict measures to lower steel output. The previous year-on-year decline in China’s crude steel output was recorded in 2015.