China has made significant progress in reducing surplus productivity and phasing out outdated equipment this year, said a senior official with the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC) in Beijing Tuesday.

The output of some industries were put under control this year to ease a serious oversupply on domestic market. These industries mainly include the metallurgical, sugar and coal industries, the official said.

A vast majority of the country's 46 large iron and steel companies have accomplished the goal of eliminating outdated techniques and facilities on time or ahead of schedule, and are now focusing on manufacturing products that are demanded by the market.

Fifty small polluting iron and steel plants have been closed down this year, and another 53 are to be shut down by the end of this year, the official noted.

Seventy percent of the 152 sugar-producing factories that were scheduled to be shut down have stopped operation. As a result, sugar output decreased by 2 million tons in the first half of this year alone, and the sugar price increased from 2000 yuan per ton earlier this year to 3400 yuan at the present level.

Hopefully, the sugar industry will earn a net profit of 500 million yuan in 2000, he added.

The official said that the annual goal of keeping coal output below 900 million tons is likely to be achieved this year as more than 40,000 small coal mines were closed down, cutting productivity by 320 million tons.

The country's coal stockpile has decreased by 22 million tons from earlier this year, and coal prices have gone up and exports grown steadily.

China is expected to export 55 million tons of coal by the end of this year, with 42 million tons already achieved in the first nine months, the official noted.

(21dnn.com 11/08/2000)