The Chinese province of Hebei plans to reduce its crude steel output capacity to 95 million mt per year by the end of the 12th five-year plan period (2011-15).
In 2009, Hebei Province produced 135 million mt of crude steel, ranking No. 1 in China in terms of output volume. In January-September this year, Hebei Province produced a total of 113.06 million mt of crude steel.
Although Chinese steelmaker Hebei Iron and Steel Group, which produced the most crude steel in China in 2009, has not published its plans for the coming five years, earlier this year company chairman Wang Yifang said that the company was not planning to expand output in the 12th five-year plan period, but would instead optimize its product mix and upgrade its product quality. In 2009, the company produced 40.24 million mt of crude steel. Influenced by official government policy to restrict output capacities, Hebei Iron and Steel Group expects to produce 25.05 million mt of crude steel in the current year.
In the second half of 2010, leading Chinese steelmakers Baosteel, Wuhan Iron and Steel and Angang Steel published their output plans for 12th five-year plan period. The three companies are each targeting an output capacity of 60 million mt per year by 2015.
Recently, Hebei provincial government published files on pushing forward mergers and restructurings in the local steel industry and on encouraging local steelmakers to get involved in reorganization of upstream and downstream industries. Accordingly, at the end of the 12th five-year plan period, the numbers of steelmakers in Hebei Province is planned to be reduced to about 10. The output of the top five steelmakers in Hebei Province is expected to constitute 75 percent of total provincial crude steel output. In 2009, the percentage was 48 percent.
At present, there are 88 steelmakers in Hebei Province, of which 41 have an output capacity of 1 million mt each. According to 2009 data, the top five steelmakers in Hebei province are Hebei Iron&Steel Group, Guofeng Iron&Steel, Jinxi Group, Zongheng Steel and Hebei Jingye Group.