Steel enterprises in Chinese province of Hebei can be closed from September 1

Almaty. August 9. Silkroadnews – Steel enterprises in the Chinese province of Hebei may be closed from September 1 for air pollution, Reuters reported.
“Steelmakers in the smog-prone northern Chinese province of Hebei will be forced to halt operations next month if they fail to meet tough new pollution restrictions”, the report said.
It is noted that the province of Hebei, surrounding Beijing and famous for its heavy industry, is a home to 6 of the country’s 10 most polluted cities.
The province produces a quarter of steel in the country, but promised to cut at least 60 million tonnes out of 286 million tonnes of its production capacity in 2013-2017. Last year, the province also promised to introduce “special emission restrictions” on the steel sector to meet tough emission standards.
To make enterprises to comply with these restrictions, the authorities have reduced the number of emission permits granted to steel companies, forcing them to make additional efforts to modernize production process technologies and introduce cleaning technologies.
The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region suffered from an almost record smog in January and February, with a dozens of cities announcing “red alert” to reduce activity by industrial enterprises and intensity of traffic.
According to the latest data from environment ministry, the average air pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region grew 14.3% in the first half of the year to 72 micrograms, mainly as a result of the January and February smog surges.