For China, Too Much Steel Isn't Enough
To combat a slack economy, China is building mills it does not need
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For now, it’s nothing more than an expanse of muddy land lying just off the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. But Baosteel Group’s planned $11 billion steelworks will eventually transform the sleepy island of Donghai. Land is being reclaimed from the sea for a plant that by 2015 will produce 10 million metric tons of high-grade steel annually.
The 12-square-mile site will include a new port with an iron-ore terminal, an export terminal capable of handling 500,000-ton ships, and its own power plant. The new complex is expected to create tens of thousands of jobs and contribute to the city’s tax coffers. Wang Zhongbing, the town’s mayor, was pictured in a newspaper in May kissing the project’s approval documents.