BLOOMBERG BNA
By John Butcher
China committed to further reductions in steel and coal capacity March 5, but omitted details of how lasting those cuts might be or whether there would be reductions in other industries where overcapacity is also an issue.
Premier Li Keqiang read from a government work report, on the first day of the National People’s Congress, that committed the government to reducing steel capacity by around 50 million metric tons, closing at least 150 million metric tons of coal production facilities and suspending or stopping construction of no less than 50 million kilowatts of coal-fired power generation capacity.
The move was positive for the U.S. steel industry, according to Jake Parker, vice president of China operations at the U.S.-China Business Council, based in Beijing.