It is reported that China is soon to announce a fine-tuning of its policy for the elimination of dated capacities in its domestic steel industry, according to which a uniform standard will no longer be imposed for steel capacity elimination but instead allowances will be made for producers of certain types of steel product. Thus, the principle of elimination of all blast furnaces below 300 m3 and 400 m3 capacity will be altered.
According to the Plan for Restructuring and Invigorating the Chinese Steel Industry, by the end of 2010 China has intended to eliminate all blast furnaces ≤ 300 m3 and converters or electric furnaces ≤ 30 mt, and by the end of 2011 the country aimed to eliminate all blast furnaces ≤ 400 m3 and converters or electric furnaces ≤ 30 mt.
However, some industry insiders hold different views as regards the uniform elimination standard in the Plan for Restructuring and Invigorating the Chinese Steel Industry, because it does not suit the specific situations of longs producers and pipes producers.
It has been argued that with smaller capacity blast furnaces and converters, long steel producers can make significant savings on coal consumption. As an example, production of the same long steel product using a 450 m3 blast furnace and a 50 mt converter can save 60 kg of standard coal compared to using a 1,000 m3 blast furnace and a 100 mt converter.