Northern provinces reducing dependence on coal, steel
Source: www.chinamining.org Citation: Global Times Date: March 09, 2017
Officials from two provinces that heavily depend on steel and coal production said Tuesday that they will reduce their reliance for local economic development on these two sectors, which are plagued by overcapacity.
There have been positive signs of economic restructuring in the provinces, said deputies to the 12th National People`s Congress from North China`s Hebei and Shanxi provinces.
The officials said they will continue to bring advanced industries while tackling overcapacity.
Steel output accounted for about 25.5 percent in the total industrial output of Hebei, which will decline to about 25 percent, said Zhao Kezhi, secretary of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Beijing News reported on Tuesday. The output of advanced industries grew 13 percent year-on-year last year, faster than that of the steel industry.
Meanwhile, machinery and equipment has become a new pillar industry in Hebei, replacing the traditional steel industry, he said.
Also on Tuesday, Shanxi claimed that it will step up efforts to let other industries grow first, as the coal industry has been the major sector in the province for decades. In total, 414.4 billion yuan ($60 billion) will be invested in 986 major projects including new materials, information and technology, food, textiles and manufacturing, noted Luo Huining, secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the CPC, according to China Daily.
This year is crucial for tackling the capacity glut, said the country`s economic planner. However, to balance supply and demand, there is no need to restrict capacity on a large scale in 2017, and the central government will not impose uniform demands on provincial governments, according to a post on the website of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Tuesday.
Conditions among coal miners differ, and a one-size-fits-all approach may not drive obsolete capacity out but instead may cause supply shortages, former NDRC vice chairman Zhang Xiaoqiang, said at a meeting during the two sessions on Tuesday.
In earlier 2016, authorities in Shanxi ordered local coal miners to cut operation by 54 days - down from 330 to 276 days a year.
Following that move, coal output in the first three quarters of 2016 fell by 10.5 percent year-on-year to 2.46 billion metric tons.
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