The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Monday announced a list of 2,579 companies with outdated production capacity in 19 industrial sectors in China, and required them to completely dismantle such projects by the end of this year, a move aimed at accelerating the country's industrial upgrade.

All these projects should be closed by the end of September, and none of them can be transferred to other countries and regions across the world, the MIIT said in a statement on its website.

This is the first batch of companies which are required by the MIIT to eliminate their outdated production capacity, following the ministry's announcement in April of an annual target for dismantling outdated production capacity in 19 industrial sectors by the end of this year.

High-polluting and energy-intensive industries, including cement, iron and steel, paper- making and copper-smelting will be affected the most.

The ministry will phase out a total of 10.46 million tons of obsolete iron-smelting capacity at 27 companies by the end of this year, according to the statement.

A total of 1,053 cement producers, 589 paper-making enterprises, 77 coke companies  and 43 copper-smelting companies, are included in the list.

But analysts are concerned the ministry's move will cause a slowdown in China's industrial sector, create unemployment problems and even reduce local governments' fiscal revenues.

Considering the local governments' reluctance to implement the elimination requirements, the MIIT said it has also required some media in related provinces to publish the companies' name list to enhance supervision. (Source: Global Times)

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