Chinese Hebei decided to decommission blast furnaces’ work with a volume less than 1 thousand cubic meters

The Hebei Provincial Development and Reform Commission decided to stop blast furnaces’ work with a capacity of up to 1,000 cubic meters and strictly prohibited the introduction of new production capacity. SteelMint writes about it.

The Hebei Provincial Development and Reform Commission has introduced the “six modernization” tools for the Hebei province’s the iron and steel industry.

In particular, large-scale modernization of blast furnaces is planned: blast furnaces will be upgraded and transformed, except in the case of pig iron and special steel enterprises. Efforts are on to shut down blast furnaces below 1,000 cubic metres and converters below 100 tonnes by the end of 2022.

There are also plans to accelerate the development of high-quality steel: the emphasis is on high-quality and value-added products. The focus is on developing new materials, and high-end special steel.

Among the areas of energy conservation, actions are being taken to reduce carbon emissions, and the region is studying the carbon peaking path of the iron and steel industry, and innovating to develop green and low-carbon technologies.

Among the directions of digitization is the acceleration of digital transformation of the iron and steel industry. Efforts are on to achieve a digitalisation rate of about 80% for key processes.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in almost all major regional markets in the world, the decline of iron&steel production continues. Steelmakers around the world are shutting down capacity due to falling demand.