China’s environmental upgrade will support steel, raw mats prices

摘要

China has demanded that its steelmakersmeet ultra-low emissions standards inthree stages by 2020, 2022 and 2025,with some local governments ambitiouslyclaiming they will achieve this goal within2018 or early 2019. Better environmentalprotection would mean less output cutsin the second half of this year, especiallyduring the winter heating season. Butregardless of the extent of the outputcuts, Chinese steel prices are likely to bedriven upwards by rising environmentalprotection costs.