Report: China's announced steel capacity cuts were fake
Feb. 14, 2017 8:12 AM ET|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
China's claims last year of steep cuts in its steel capacity were mostly fake, as many of the plants the government said it had closed were already idle, production was restarted elsewhere, and new plants were opened, according to a new report by Greenpeace East Asia and Chinese consultancy Custeel.
China’s steel industry actually saw a net increase in operating capacity in 2016, the report concludes; if true, the news could further strain China’s trade relations with the U.S. and the European Union, which have repeatedly accused China of dumping cheap steel abroad and damaging their own steel industries.
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