More steel, cement plants will be closed due to overcapacity

China will close more steel and cement plants this year than originally planned to deal with overcapacity, the industry ministry said.

The nation decided to eliminate 28.7 million tons of annual steel capacity and 50.5 million tons of cement capacity this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a statement today.

That compared with an initial target of 27 million tons for steel and 42 million tons for cement as outlined by Premier Li Keqiang in his government report earlier this year.

The country's crude steel output rose to a record high of 779 million tons last year.

China has been phasing out old and inefficient capacity in its industrial sector as part of efforts to revamp its growth model and fight pollution.

The ministry also said 420,000 tons of annual aluminum capacity and 115,000 tons of lead smelting will be eliminated this year.