There has lately been a report about the Tangshan municipal government issuing a notice regarding crude steel output reductions in 2023. A few steelmakers said they have received the notice, while at the same time they have not made plans for maintenance works yet. Other local steelmakers said they have not received the notice yet, though they do not exclude the possibility that they will receive it later.
In 2022, crude steel output in Tangshan amounted to 124 million mt, decreasing by 20 million mt compared to the high level recorded in 2020.
In the first three months this year, the crude steel output in Tangshan reached 35.13 million mt, up 29.34 percent year on year. It is expected that crude steel output in Tangshan in April will total 11 million, resulting in a year-on-year rise of 17.29 percent in crude steel output in Tangshan during the January-April period this year.
Accordingly, crude steel output in Tangshan in the May-December period would be kept within 78.14 million mt, meaning a fall of 7.86 percent year on year, in order to achieve the target of stable output for 2023 as a whole. Normally, crude steel reductions happen in the third and fourth quarters of the year due to the impact of the heating season in autumn and in winter.