China may let provinces set own winter output curbs for heavy industry

China's government is mulling allowing northern provinces to set their own requirements for output cuts across heavy industry during the winter, ditching an earlier plan for the central government to impose blanket rates, a source said on Tuesday.

The change is being considered by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), said the source who is involved with the plan. He declined to be identified because the plan has not been made public.

Such a change could lead to less drastic cuts than in the sweeping measures that were part of the MEE's draft plan reported by Reuters last month. The draft proposed 50 percent cuts on steel production and 30 percent on primary aluminium in some regions.

The potential for more flexible output cuts to heavy industry pushed prices of steel and steelmaking raw materials such coke lower on Tuesday.