China steel producing giants Baosteel Group and Wuhan Steel Group have completed their targeted capacity cuts for this year, state media agency Xinhua reported on Saturday, citing a state assets supervisor official. Wuhan Steel may exceed its capacity cut, and it is possible that the country's centrally run steel firms could reach their combined 7.19 million tonne reduction target for 2016 as early as this month, Li Bing, director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission's (SASAC) Enterprise Restructuring Bureau was also quoted as saying.
China has pledged to cut 100-150 million tonnes of crude steel production and 500 million tonnes of coal production in the next three to five years as it tries to tackle price-sapping capacity gluts in the sectors. The targets for the centrally controlled firms are part of a wider 45-million tonne reduction target for the country's steel sector in 2016. Details of Baosteel and Wuhan Steel's individual targets were not reported by Xinhua.
China's centrally run steel firms will cut crude steel capacity by 21.4 million tonnes within three years from the start of 2016, Xinhua quoted Li as saying. Of the reduction, 16.4 million tonnes will be achieved through cutting capacity, while 3.93 million tonnes will be completed via mergers and restructuring, Li was reported to have said.
Anshan Steel Group, China's number four producer, is also on track to meet its capacity-cut target on time, Li added. China, the world's top producer and consumer of steel, has already embarked on restructuring to tackle inefficiencies in the sector and slash the huge overcapacity that has boosted cheap exports and caused some producers elsewhere to shut. Baosteel Group will fully take over Wuhan Steel Group, creating the world's second largest steelmaker after ArcelorMittal. Beijing aims to push through a merger of Anshan Steel and Benxi Steel by the end of 2016, an industry group official said last month.
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