A leading steel producer said it is moving its polluting plants from Beijing to Hebei Province to help clean the air in the nation's capital.

General Manager Wang Qinghai of Beijing Shougang Group, China's fourth largest steelmaker, said the company is relocating polluting plants to the neighboring Hebei Province so that the national capital can have more blue skies.

The company also said its 42-year-old coke oven stopped operation Saturday for environmental protection. The company's No. 2 coke oven has set five records in China, including the records of the most advanced technology and the single biggest output of coke, during various periods.

The oven has produced 6.48 million tons coke, 380,000 tons of other chemicals and 2.6 billion cubic meters of coal gas.

Although widely regarded as a flagship enterprise in China's iron and steel industry, Shougang has been blamed for polluting the capital city in recent years and is considered a potential obstacle for the upcoming 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

In response to the criticism, the company launched a plan to relocate its polluting plants to the neighboring Hebei Province.

According to the plan, approved by the State Council, Shougang has cut its steel output in the past few years and will further reduce the annual production of its Beijing factories to 4 million tons by 2007.

By 2010, all the current Beijing-based steel operations will stop and move to Hebei with only the headquarters, research and development sections, sales departments and logistical center staying in the national capital.

(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2006)