Crude steel production capacity in Hebei, Tianjin to be capped

Crude steel production capacity in Hebei province and Tianjin will be capped at 200 million metric tons and 15 million tons by 2020, as part of China's efforts to optimize the iron and steel industry, a senior government official said.

"There is too much capacity in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the surrounding areas, as well as the Yangtze River Delta region," said Lyu Guixin, an inspector with the raw material department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

"The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region takes up only 2.2 percent of China's territory, but accounts for 25 percent of the nation's crude steel output."