China steel futures reach a record high of 10 months as pollution control intensifies Energy and oil

* Chinese Cabinet Launches New Leadership Group to Reduce Pollution

* Tangshan to Deepen Production Cutbacks During Summer

* Daily Steel Production, Decline stocks at the end of June -CISA

BEIJING, July 12 (Reuters) – Futures on steel bars in China reached their highest level in 10 months on Thursday, due to an offer potential as the government intensifies its efforts to clean up the environment.

On Wednesday, the Chinese government launched a new interministerial leadership group, led by Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, to help develop air pollution control plans in China. northern regions.

"The high-level group of leaders will certainly be a powerful deterrent to environmental violations and could also restrict production in factories and mines," said Zhuo Guiqiu, an badyst at Jinrui Futures. .

And Tangshan, the largest steel city in China, has ordered steel mills, coke producers and utilities to further reduce production for six weeks from July 20 to August 31 to improve the quality of oil and gas. air.

"With high environmental pressure, more regions can order their industrial plants to reduce their emissions," Zhuo said.

The most active contracts on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 2.1% after touching 3,960 yuan ($ 591.24) a tonne, its highest level since September 6th.

Steel prices edged up 0.2% to 4,320.36 yuan a ton on Wednesday, data from Mysteel's consultant showed.

Daily gross steel output of major steel companies from June 21 to 30 reached 1.96 million tonnes, down 1.8% from mid-June, according to data from CISA.

Steel stocks of steel mills fell over the same period, falling from 24,700 tonnes to 11.42 million tonnes, according to data from CISA.

The prices of raw materials for the development of steel have also increased. The most traded coking coal contract for September delivery rose 2.2% to 1,157 yuan per tonne. Coke futures increased 2.3% to 2,065 yuan at 2:14 GMT.

Dalian iron ore futures gained 1.6% to 464 yuan, investors believing that increased profit margins of factories would bring some support to the raw material. ($ 1 = 6.6978 Chinese renminbi yuan) (Reportage of Muyu Xu and Aizhu Chen edited by Joseph Radford)