China to restructure steel industry in Shandong, Hebei and Liaoning

On October 15, the Chinese government announced on its website that China is to focus on restructuring the iron and steel industry in the provinces of Shandong, Hebei, and Liaoning, and in certain other provinces. Accordingly, concentrating dispersed steel capacity, optimizing industrial distribution and reducing outdated capacity in the industry by 80 million mt in the 2013-15 period will be among the major tasks to be undertaken by local governments. Furthermore, steel standards are to be upgraded especially for rebar, electrical steel and shipbuilding steel. Rebar of strength above 400 MPa to replace the previous standard of rebar with strength exceeding 335 MPa.