China's steel industry will continue to face the problem of overcapacity with an estimated steel output of 700 million tons in 2012, but a newly released industry standard will help eliminate some excess capacity, experts said at an industry seminar over the weekend, Global Times reported.
The country's output of crude steel is expected to reach 700 million tons this year, up from 683 million tons in 2011, Zhang Changfu, vice chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), said at a seminar held Saturday in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu Province. But the domestic production capacity of crude steel reached 850 million tons by the end of 2011, according to the CISA. Zhang said the industry has been struggling with overcapacity, high stocks and declining margins, the newspaper reported.