According to a report that Radio France Internationale published, Greenpeace East Asia and Custeel (a website that the China Iron and Steel Association, which 16 large-sized steel manufacturers and enterprises in China fund) conducted an investigation of China’s steel production. The findings showed that, despite the serious steel surplus that China faces, its 2016 steel production capacity actually increased by 36.5 million tons. The investigation report disclosed that even though China claimed that, in 2016, it shut down steel factories having 85 million tons of steel capacity, the number should only have been 23 million tons because the rest of the factories that were shut down had been idle, with no production capability. Meanwhile, according to the report, new projects launched in 2016 added 12 million tons of production capacity with most of it located in Hubei Province.
The report stated that China Steel production accounts for 50 percent of the production volume in the world. Competitors criticized (China’s steel industry) for using the destructive competition approach and selling below cost. As a result, in 2016, they faced anti-dumping treatment from the EU and the U.S. The Chinese authorities promised that, by 2020, China would reduce steel production by 100-150 million tons. In 2016, China’s steel production was around 1.1 trillion tons, which means it is sitting on 300 million tons of excess steel.
Source: Radio France Internationale, February 13, 2017 cn.rfi.fr/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD/20170213-%E6%89%BF%E8%AF%BA%E6%9C%AA%E8%A7%81%E6%95%88-%E5%8E%BB%E5%B9%B4%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E9%92%A2%E9%93%81%E4%BA%A7%E8%83%BD%E5%AE%9E%E9%99%85%E5%87%80%E5%A2%9E3650%E4%B8%87%E5%90%A8