China to Investigate Coal and Steel Sector Expansions

China will send inspection teams to investigate and severely punish illegal expansion by coal and steel firms as part of its efforts to slim down the two industries, the country’s cabinet said on Thursday.

With most of the country’s steel and coal enterprises making losses in 2015, China promised in February to slash 500 million tonnes of coal production capacity and 100 million to 150 million tonnes of crude steel capacity over the next three to five years in a bid to reduce price-sapping supply gluts.

The State Council said in a notice posted on China’s official government website (www.gov.cn) that this year’s targeted closures had already been “basically completed”, but some firms were still illegally expanding capacity.

The cabinet named as culprits the Hebei Anfeng Steel Corp, based in the northern port city of Qinhuangdao, as well as a small steel plant in eastern China’s Jiangsu province.

China has traditionally struggled to rein in its massive steel and coal sectors, with local governments often turning a blind eye to expansion projects that provide additional local employment and economic growth.

via Reuters

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.

Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza