China prohibited expansion of cement and glass production in 2018

Beijing. February 13. Silkroadnews - Expansion of production capacities for cement and glass production will be strictly prohibited in China in 2018, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of the country reported on Monday, Singapore’s “The Business Times” reports.
“The MIIT notice comes just over a month before winter restrictions on construction activity in 28 cities in northern China, imposed as part of a sweeping environmental protection campaign, are due to be lifted in the middle of March,” the report said.
“New cement- and glass-making projects that are “absolutely necessary” must follow replacement capacity rules, “so as to ensure that the total production capacity will only decrease and not rise,” the ministry said in a statement on its website,” it reads.
In December China Cement Association said, by 2020 392.7 million tons of capacity, which is one –tenth of the total, will be eliminated.
According to the ministry, the volume of cement production in the country fell 0.2% year-on-year to 2.32 billion tons in 2017. The production of flat glass grew 3.5% to 790 million weight cases.
Production of building materials in China reached 7.5 trillion yuan in 2017, an increase of 8% compared to the previous year, as average material prices rose 8.2% after falling two years ago.
Since September, prices for flat glass have been steadily growing.