Hebei to Close 60 Percent of its Steel Mills by 2020

(Beijing) – The northern province of Hebei plans to shut down 240 out of the 400 steel factories in the area by 2020, as part of the country's efforts to trim overcapacity that has driven prices to their lowest in decades, the provincial governor said on March 8.

The province, which churns out nearly a quarter of China's steel output, has banned new projects until it reaches a target of producing 200 million tons per year, governor Zhang Qingwei said at a media briefing on the sidelines of the ongoing meeting the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature.