China's eastern Shandong province plans to relocate or cut a total of 21.41 million tonnes of steelmaking capacity and 22.38 million tonnes of iron making capacity by 2022, the state-backed China Metallurgical News reported on Monday.

The local government aims to cut 4.65 million tonnes of steel capacity this year and the remaining 16.76 million tonnes in 2022, the report said.

Steel capacity in cities among regions that could affect air quality in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, such as Binzhou and Zibo, should all be relocated or eliminated "in principle", according to the China Metallurgical News.

Shandong is the third biggest steel producer in China.

The province churned out 79.94 million tonnes of crude steel in 2020, accounting for 7.5% of the country's total output.

China has pledged to ensure fewer crude steel output in 2021 after years of capacity-cut campaign in an effort to reduce emissions.