HONG KONG: A two-month drop in Chinese steel production, ordered by economic officials, gave Beijing a global showcase to advance climate goals and control commodity markets. An economic slowdown in the production phase is proving the government’s willingness to keep cuts.
China’s crude steel production, half of the world’s annual total, fell in July by the widest year-over-year margin since the 2008 global financial crisis. Early indicators suggest it could fall again this month. Suppressed by state inspections and other official sidewalks at factories across the country, the prodigious flow that is often the subject of global trade and environmental tensions has fallen by 12.5 million metric tons, roughly double Britain’s annual total. , in July, from the highest record in May.
Steel cuts have plunged world iron ore prices by 40% since mid-July, producing two triumphs in China: a demonstration of political leadership ahead of a major climate summit in Glasgow in November and a demonstration that can slow the rise of global commodities. prices. Beijing has set a national target to achieve maximum carbon emissions by 2030, with a pre-2025 target for the steel sector, China’s second-largest emitter after power companies.
“We must decisively implement the policy of reducing production: this is a political issue and there is no room for negotiation,” Chen Derong, chairman of Baowu Steel Group, China’s largest producer, told a conference. this month. Also this month, climate envoy Xie Zhenhua said China plans to meet its emissions targets and present them in Glasgow.
But as the economy slows as the Covid-19 rises once again, China’s best teams have begun to offer some leeway. A high-level meeting in late July chaired by President Xi Jinping warned against “campaign” climate measures. State media weighed in to discourage “unrealistic promises.”