China will carry out inspections on the quality of construction steel and machinery steel from July to September as it pushes to crack down on production of low-grade steel.

The move comes after the world's top metals consumer said at the start of the year that it aimed to eliminate output of highly-polluting low-end steel products made in small low-tech furnaces by the end of June.

China's quality watchdog said late last week it would ask local authorities to form inspection teams, which would randomly choose a total of 100 steel mills to check the quality of their products.

Mills caught churning out low-quality steel could face losing their production licenses if they do not improve quality within a certain timeframe, said the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

The country has said it shut 600 steel mills producing low-grade construction steel during the first half of the year, cutting capacity by about 120 million tonnes.

The announcement follows a June report in the state-backed China Metallurgical News that said inspection teams would be sent out in August to check the results of the crackdown on low-grade steel products.

 

Source:reuters.com

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