China's top steel province to meet 2017 coal capacity cuts by Sept - paper

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Hebei province will likely meet its annual target for reducing coal capacity by the end of September, official newspaper Hebei Daily reported on Sunday, citing information from the provincial planning body.

Hebei, China's top steel producing province, expects to cut 12.38 million tonnes of coal capacity this year, well above its initial target of 7.42 million tonnes, the paper said.

China plans to cut 150 million tonnes of coal capacity in 2017 as part of efforts to tackle choking pollution. The National Development and Reform Commission said last week the country had cut coal capacity by 111 million tonnes by end-June.

(Reporting by Hallie Gu and Elias Glenn; Editing by Richard Pullin)