Hebei’s capital city, Shijiazhuang, has announced it will ban steel production and several other kinds of industrial activity from 17 November to 31 December due to severe air pollution. Official data from the city statistics bureau shows Shijiangzhuang produced 15.16 million tonnes of hot metal in 2015 and 14.54mt of steel products, Kallanish notes.

Shijiangzhuang’s local government says the city has suffered since mid-September from continuous smog, and it will therefore ban production in industries like steel, cement, coking, casting, glass, porcelain and calcium-magnesium fertiliser. Inspection groups will monitor enterprises, and those which do not comply with the order will be publicly disgraced and fined.

The move would in theory impact up to 1.8mt of steel output, but low production levels in the winter and mediocre demand mean the true impact should be less than this.

Hebei has six of the worst ten air polluted cities in China.