Department of Raw Materials Industry of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued notice on October 24, announcing that it has revised the Measures for the Replacement of Iron and Steel Industry Capacity (MIIT [2021] No. 46) in accordance with relevant national laws, regulations and industrial policies, and formulated the Measures for the Replacement of Iron and Steel Industry Capacity (Draft for Public Comment), and comments are now being solicited from the public.
In particular, the replacement ratio for iron-making and steel-making capacity in all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) shall be no lower than 1.5:1. For compliant capacity newly obtained through mergers and reorganizations after June 1, 2021 and used for project construction, the replacement ratio for iron-making and steel-making capacity in all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) shall be no lower than 1.25:1.
Equal-capacity replacement could be implemented in the following three cases: (1) In-plant, in-situ overhaul and reconstruction projects of iron-making or steel-making equipment that do not change the type, nominal capacity, number, or location of the smelting equipment, equal-capacity replacement shall be carried out according to the nominal capacity of the original equipment, and the capacity shall remain unchanged. (2) Electric-arc-furnace steel-making projects that use special smelting processes such as electro-slag remelting, vacuum arc remelting, or vacuum induction smelting to produce high-end specialty steels characterized by multiple varieties, small batches, and high technical content; (3) Iron-making and steel-making projects constructed in Qinghai and Tibet.
Moreover, enterprises are encouraged to utilize scrap steel resources in a high-quality and efficient manner, develop electric-furnace steelmaking in an orderly way, promote hydrogen-based metallurgy in regions where conditions permit, and implement green and low-carbon technological upgrades on existing iron-making and steel-making equipment.