Shougang Group, a heavyweight steel maker located in the Chinese capital, on Thursday announced it had halted all its steel-making operation in Beijing.

A shutdown ceremony was held Thursday morning in Shougang's Shijingshan site in western Beijing, marking the close down of the company's 8-million-tonne steel production capacity to improve Beijing's environment.

The company had built a 21-square-kilometer new plant in Caofeidian, an islet 220 km east of Beijing, to replace Shougang's old facilities.

(Xinhua News Agency January 13, 2011)