On January 27, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) reported that the country's steelmaking and ironmaking capacities eliminated in 2009 reached 16.91 million mt and 21.13 million mt respectively.
In 2009, the actual eliminated capacities far exceeded the targets of 6 million mt of steel capacities and 10 million mt of iron capacities set by the State Council in July 2009.
According to the figures, China now has about 1,000 blast furnaces including 295 blast furnaces below 500 m3, representing annual ironmaking capacities of 130 million mt. In addition, China has 458 converters including 195 of less than 50 mt, equivalent to an annual ironmaking capacity of 160 million mt.
In 2009, China's crude steel output reached 568 million mt, up 13.5 percent year on year. Based on the steel capacity utilization rate of 75.8 percent released by China's National Development and Reform Commission, the country's current steel output already exceeds 700 million mt on an annual basis.