Tangshan mills cut blast furnace, sintering output

Two Chinese steel mills in the northern city of Tangshan will reduce blast furnace and sintering output until 31 August on orders from the local government.

Hebei Jinxi Iron & Steel and Hebei Jinxi Special Steel will cut pig iron output by 20pc and sintered iron ore output by 40pc over the period.

Jinxi Steel has steel production capacity of 8.5mn t/yr, while Jinxi Special Steel has 2.5mn t/yr of capacity. Both companies are owned by Hong Kong-listed China Oriental.

Tangshan has imposed restrictions on steelmaking until 31 August to sharply lower emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide. The restrictions will mostly affect mills that do not have adequate denitrification and desulphurisation equipment.

Tangshan, China's largest steelmaking city, has also halted all sintering until 21 July after a pollution alert was activated.

Other steel mills in the city may have made unannounced production cuts similar to those at the Jinxi mills. Lower steel and sintered ore output is expected to pressure iron ore fines prices and support prices pf steel and direct-charge ores.