On October 29, the local government of China's Hebei Province announced that in the first three quarters of the current year 11.81 million mt of iron output capacities and 2.22 million mt of steelmaking capacities were eliminated. Li Zhi, information minister for Hebei Province, stated that all backward steel capacities requested by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) were eliminated by the end of September this year.
Wang Dayong, secretary general of Hebei's metallurgical industry association, remarked that crude steel output in Hebei Province amounted to 14.3838 million mt in April this year, followed by a gradual decline in output of crude steel in the succeeding five months, especially in September. Hebei Province's crude steel production amounted to only 8.3649 million mt in September this year, down 34.75 percent on year-on-year basis.
Insiders expect that production of steel in Hebei Province will remain low in the fourth quarter of this year, with steel producers' profits expected to be down on year-on-year basis.