The Shanxi Provincial Economic and Information Committee has announced an implementation plan for the restructuring and invigoration of the local steel industry based on the actual situation in the eastern Chinese province of Shanxi, aiming to bring overall production capacities below 45 million mt of pig iron and 40 million mt of crude steel by 2011.
As outlined by an official of the Shanxi Provincial Economic and Information Committee, by the end of 2008 there were 78 steel mills each with an annual output value of over RMB 5 million operating in Shanxi Province, with total sales revenues of RMB 165.2 billion. Meanwhile, also at the end of 2008, the province's pig iron capacity reached 54 million mt, with an output of 27.82 million mt; meanwhile, the province's crude steel capacity came to 40 million mt, with actual production of 23.45 million mt; and, finally, finished steel capacity in the province stood at 26 million mt, with production totaling 19.76 million mt.
According to the implementation plan, the Shanxi government will eliminate all blast furnaces ≤ 300 m3 by the end of 2010 and all blast furnaces ≤ 400 m3 and converters or electric furnaces ≤ 30 mt by the end of 2011. Thus, the plan will entail the eliminatation of over 20 million mt of ironmaking capacities and of around 16 million mt of steelmaking capacities.