The government of Tangshan, a major steel producing hub in China, held an environmental emergency meeting on the evening of March 8, following which industrial enterprises were required to implement production restriction measures due to the level 1 environmental red alert. The previous red alert was in 2017.
Some local steelmakers have indicated that transportation is now being strictly controlled.
If the measures are implemented strictly in response to the level 1 red alert, all blast furnaces of level D category steelmakers will be halted, which will reduce molten iron output further. Also, mills in categories B and C will have to cut capacity utilization rates to below 50 percent.