CHINA’S top steelmaking province of Hebei produced 15.69 million tons of crude steel in July, up 3.5 percent from the same period last year, defying deepening financial difficulties and widespread environmental shutdowns in the sector.

    The province produced 114.6 million tons of steel in the first seven months of the year, up 0.9 percent on last year and amounting to 24.1 percent of the national total, National Bureau of Statistics figures showed.

    Total steel production fell 4.6 percent in July to 65.84 million tons, bringing daily rates down to their lowest level since last November.

    Hebei is under heavy pressure to restructure and clean up its economy as it wages war on pollution and battles a slowdown in industrial demand.

    It is also likely to see further closures in August as authorities try to guarantee air quality ahead of events held in Beijing in early September to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

    The region is aiming to cut emissions by more than 30 percent ahead of the commemorations.

    The Hebei Metallurgical Industry Association said in a report earlier that large numbers of steel processing plants had closed throughout the province as a result of weak prices and added environmental compliance pressures.

    It said as many as 26 blast furnaces in China’s top steel producing city of Tangshan were closed from mid-July, but it doesn’t appear to have had an impact on the province’s overall production.(SD-Agencies)