China eliminates 70 million tonnes of outdated cement capacity

China has phased out more than 70 million tonnes of outdated cement capacity as the country moved steadily to address structural imbalances in the bloated sector, industry data showed.

Helped by the capacity-cut drive, combined profit of the cement industry neared 80 billion yuan (about 11.64 billion U.S. dollars) during the January-June period, a record high, Chen Bolin, president of information platform Digital Cement, said at an industry forum on Wednesday.

Cement demand has gradually recovered. In the first half of the year, demand rose 5 percent year on year, according to Chen.

On the market outlook, Chen predicted retreating demand growth in the latter half of the year due to slower real estate investment, but industry profitability in 2019 will be better than last year.

For years, a wide range of industries in China, including steel, cement, aluminum, flat glass, and coal, have been running at overcapacity that had dragged economic growth.

Chinese authorities have called for continued efforts to prevent new capacities in the industries.

China's cement output in H1 this year stood at 1.04 billion tonnes, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.