Shougang Group, one of the largest steel mills in China, says it will reduce its steel production for a total of three months to help alleviate air pollution during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Zhu Jiming, president of Shougang Group, says this is a contribution that Shougang has made to Chinese society and the whole world for the successful hosting of the Beijing Olympics. Zhu says that Beijing Municipal Government is quite satisfied with Shougang's commitment in production reduction.

The company pledges to reduce its production to the minimum level from July to September next year to only maintain the mill's safety and prevent the blast furnace and coking furnace from being damaged. This means the company will basically halt production during the three month period, for which Zhu says the government may consider providing it compensation.

Shougang previously moved its mill from Beijing to neighboring Hebei Province, which will make the company's production decrease to 4 million tons from this year's 8 million tons.