Tangshan, China's top steelmaking city located in North China's Hebei Province, has ordered steel mills, coke producers and utilities to cut output further this summer, according to a document from the city's government, the latest step to curb smog in one of the country's most polluted areas.
The move to deepen cuts in emissions will last for six weeks from July 20 until August 31, according to the document, which was reviewed by Reuters. That will be in addition to 10-15 percent capacity cuts imposed from March to November.
The document did not instruct factories to cut output by a certain amount, but told the city's local districts to set their own detailed plans for curbing production by Friday.
The curbs mark one of the latest steps in China's war on pollution as it pushes to clear the country's polluted skies.
"Sintering machines and blast furnaces will be major targets of production cuts in the steel sector and could be at as much as 50 percent depending on emission levels at mills," an official at the environment department of Tangshan's government told Reuters by phone. He declined to be identified.
Tangshan produced 91.2 million tons of crude steel in 2017, accounting for 11 percent of the country's total steel output.
Analysts at industrial data provider SMM expect the latest restrictions in Tangshan to reduce production by up to 150,000 tons of hot metal a day.
