[Ferro-Alloys.com] 

  At the press conference of the State Council Information Office on January 26, Huang Libin, spokesman of the Ministry of industry and information technology and director of the Bureau of operation monitoring and coordination, said that the reduction of steel production is an important measure for China to achieve the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutralization. The Ministry of industry and information technology will promote the reduction of steel production from four aspects. The Ministry of industry and information technology will study and formulate relevant work plans to ensure the full realization of the year-on-year decline of steel production in 2021.

  Firstly, new steel production capacity is strictly prohibited. Huang Libin said that it is necessary to strictly implement the policy of capacity replacement for iron and steel smelting projects that need to be built, and intensify the investigation and punishment of illegal new smelting capacity behaviors, and strengthen the negative warning. At the same time, we should constantly strengthen the constraints of environmental protection, energy consumption, safety, quality and other factors, and standardize the production behavior of enterprises.

  Secondly, improve the relevant policies and measures. Huang Libin disclosed that the Ministry of industry and information technology, the development and Reform Commission and other relevant departments are studying and formulating new capacity replacement methods and guidance on project filing, which will further guide and consolidate the work effect of steel capacity.

  Thirdly, promote the merger and reorganization of the iron and steel industry, promote the improvement of industry concentration, promote the solution of the long-standing problems in the industry, such as serious homogenization competition, unreasonable resource allocation, weak R & D and innovation collaboration ability, and improve the innovation ability and scale efficiency of the industry.

  Fourthly, firmly reduce steel production. Combined with the overall situation of the current industry development, focusing on achieving the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutralization, the stock constraint mechanism based on carbon emission, pollutant emission and total energy consumption is gradually established, and the relevant work plan is studied and formulated to ensure the comprehensive realization of the year-on-year decline of steel production in 2021.

  In addition, Huang Libin said that at present, China's iron ore dependence on foreign countries has reached 80%. In order to strengthen China's ability to guarantee iron ore resources, the Ministry of industry and information technology and relevant departments are promoting relevant work to build overseas equity iron mines with global influence and market competitiveness.

  However, according to the statistics of China Iron and Steel Industry Association, in mid-January 2021, the average daily output of crude steel of key steel enterprises was 2.2181 million tons, which increased by 1.02% and 12.31% year on year. In the middle of January 2021, the steel inventory of key iron and steel enterprises was 14.0431 million tons, an increase of 1.0161 million tons (7.8%), compared with the same period last month and an increase of 3.241 million tons (29.99%), compared with the same period last year.

• [Editor:Catherine Ren]