China to remove outdated industrial capacity by Sept

BEIJING - More than 1,400 companies have to shut down outdated production capacities until the end of September, the Chinese central government announced Thursday.

The companies, in 19 industries, including steel, coke, ferro-alloy, cement and paper making, should also permanently remove the obsolete production capacities by the end of the year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a statement.

The firms are on publicized lists and are not allowed to relocate their outdated capacities to other regions, it said.

The companies are the first batch of enterprises that are required to this, the statement said.

The State Council, China's cabinet, released a document in 2010 targeting the elimination of outdated capacities.

The document said this aimed to speed up transformation of economic development, and boost industrial upgrading, energy savings and emission reductions.