China’s National Audit Office has released audit results for 20 state-owned enterprises, including Chinese steelmaker Baosteel Group. In particular, in the 2011- 14 period, three of Baosteel’s subsidiaries added 930,000 mt of new pig iron capacity and 1.5 million mt of crude steel capacity.
In response, Chinese steelmaker Baowu Group - the newly-formed merger of Baosteel Group and WISCO Group - has stated that 930,000 mt of the new pig iron capacity came from unauthorized blast upgrades, while 750,000 mt of this capacity has been eliminated by shutting down blast furnaces. At the same time, Baowu Group has applied for formal approval for the remaining capacity. As regards the 1.5 million mt of crude steel capacity, this came from Xinjiang Autonomous Region-based Chinese steelmaker Bayi Iron and Steel. Baowu has also applied for formal approval of this capacity.