The Chinese government is to close 2,255 industrial facilities in an attempt to fight severe power shortages.
Businesses affected include those producing iron, steel, coke, cement, flat glass, paper making and printing and dyeing, according to a statement on the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
The MIIT statement said that production capacity for 31.22 million tonnes of iron will be removed. It will also shut 19.75 million tonnes of steel production.
China is facing its worst power shortages since 2004, according to statistics from the China Electricity Council. Consumption has risen by 12 per cent this year, with heavy industry being blamed for almost half of this rise.
To meet the central government’s plan of reducing emissions and save energy, many factories were shut down, had their electricity cut off or reduced production last year. But since this ended, there has been a sudden increase in industrial demand with power consumption growing by 14 per cent in the first four months of the year in the iron and steel industry alone, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
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