Hebei reduces overcapacity

Local governments in North China's Hebei Province dismantled a dozen furnaces in major industrial cities to fight rampant air pollution, the People's Daily reported Monday.

To meet the province's 15-million-ton overcapacity reduction plan, 16 blast furnaces and three converters belonging to 15 iron and steel companies were demolished.

The demolition reduce Hebei's iron production capacity by 6.71 million tons and steel production capacity by 1.49 million tons, said the report.

The largest iron and steel producing province in China by output, Hebei plans to reduce its annual coal burning by 4.06 million tons, sulfur dioxide emissions by 9,700 tons and smoke and dust emissions by 7,000 tons after the campaign.

Hebei initiated a similar campaign to attack overcapacity in the iron and steel sector in November 2013.