Chi Jingdong, the vice president of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), stated on December 5 while attending the 2019 National Coal Trade Fair in Qinghuangdao that China’s steel industry’s capacity elimination task has basically been completed, while adding that the industry’s energy conservation has been improved.
According to Mr. Chi, in the January-October period this year China’s pig iron and crude steel outputs amounted to 645 million mt and 782 million mt, up 1.7 percent and 6.4 percent year on year, respectively, while in the given period the iron and steel industry achieved its best performance in terms of profitability over the past 20 years.
The CISA official went on to say that since 2016 China has eliminated 150 million mt of outdated iron and steel capacity, while promoting a large number of new energy-saving technologies, which have increased energy savings and reduced costs. He pointed out that, in the January-October period this year, the total energy consumption of large and medium-sized steel enterprises in China fell by 0.9 percent year on year even though the overall crude steel output of the enterprises increased by 4.9 percent year on year in the given period.