On December 30, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and National Energy Administration held a joint press conference regarding the curbing of overcapacity and excessive construction activity in some industries as well as facilitating healthy and sustainable industrial development.
MIIT raw materials department deputy director Yuan Longhua pointed out at the conference that the document entitled Criteria for Entering the Coking Industry revised and published by the MIIT has raised the threshold for entry to the industry by publishing the list of enterprises which conform with the criteria. According to the relevant requirements, China has been scheduled to eliminate a total of 80 million mt of dated coking capacities during the Eleventh Five-Year period (2006-2010), while total eliminated capacities in the period have already reached 82.54 million mt, surpassing the target by 2.54 million mt.
It was also announced by the three government authorities at the conference that China will not approve any newly-built coke, calcium carbide, methanol and other traditional coal chemical projects, while there are currently no pilot schemes for coal oil and natural gas.