Chinese steel mills are becoming cleaner every month as Beijing pushes to curb its smoke-stack industries. But they’re not getting any leaner. Despite efforts to step up environmental checks and trim out excess capacity, steel output by the world’s top producer has risen year-on-year for the past seven months. As emissions cuts will mean steel mills are better able to meet stricter government standards, Beijing may find it more difficult to cut overcapacity in a sprawling industry. For now, domestic demand from infrastructure and construction has been robust, absorbing most of the extra supply. But a steeper slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy could force mills to ramp up sales abroad. That could rekindle tensions with Europe and the United States, major trading partners which have for years accused China of dumping […]