(Yicai Global) June 9 -- China's steelmaking hub of Tangshan has kicked off production of high-purity magnesium oxide at a new plant in northern China to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign commodities.

The production line can make magnesium oxide with the highest purity reaching 99.95 percent, the Seaport Economic Development Zone said in a statement yesterday. The annual capacity is 1,000 tons, valued at more than CNY30 million (USD4.7 million).

The factory, which uses a technology developed by a local research unit of the Beijing Institute of Technology, can also generate 3 million kilowatt-hours of high-quality electricity per year.

Using high-purity magnesium oxide as a refractory material for steelmaking can cut carbon emissions and impurities, as well as improve the quality of special steel, according to the statement.

The city in Hebei province is China’s largest steel production base. It made 144 million tons of crude steel last year, up 5.2 percent from a year earlier, according to public data.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi