China has launched a multi-pronged crackdown on unauthorised steel plants, in an attempt to counter the country's steel boom and ease shortages of power, coal and transport capacity that threaten to hobble the wider economy, officials, academics and steel executives said.

But in some areas the crackdown appears to have degenerated into a game of cat-and-mouse, with local authorities disobeying their seniors in the central and provincial governments the moment their backs are turned.