Steelmakers Need Seismic Change to Keep Up With China’s Emissions Plans, Official Says

Hundreds of millions of tons of crude steel capacity will have to adapt to the country’s “ultra-low” emissions standards by the end of this year to stay on track with government plans for the sector, according to an environment ministry official.

For environmental and overcapacity reasons, China has for several years been reining in its steel industry.

By the end of the year, “about 560 million tons of crude steel production capacity needs to have cut pollutants and carbon emissions to meet the government-set standards as planned, of which only about one-fourth have completed the upgrade so far," Wu Xianfeng, deputy director of the Department of Atmospheric Environment at the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), said at a Monday forum held by the China Iron and Steel Association.