A string of leading Chinese steel executives has publicly acknowledged the problem of steel overcapacity in China in recent weeks, sparking questions on whether enough is being done to tackle the issue in the fourth quarter.

Despite wide agreement inside China as well as overseas that the country's steel market is oversupplied, progress toward implementing production cuts in the fourth quarter is only tentative. Some bigger northern China mills—led by Hebei Steel Group, Benxi Steel Co. and Baotou Iron & Steel Group—reportedly pared output in mid-October, with some maintenance outages planned for November and December, although those are lower demand periods.