* Hebei province began environmental checks on Thursday
* Tangshan ordered mills to halve output for a week
By Manolo Serapio Jr
MANILA, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Shanghai rebar steel futures climbed to their highest level in nearly three weeks on Monday, buoyed by expectations that China's sustained anti-pollution campaign could further disrupt production.
China's smog-prone Hebei province on Thursday began its environmental inspections of industrial plants, with authorities saying they will focus on large and medium-sized companies. top steelmaking city of Tangshan on the same day ordered its mills to halve output for a week amid forecasts of unfavourable weather. most actively traded rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, for January delivery SRBcv1 , was up 0.8 percent at 4,118 yuan ($595) a tonne by 0156 GMT, after initially peaking at 4,135 yuan - its strongest since Sept. 25.
However, Argonaut Securities analyst Helen Lau said steel output could see less impact from output cuts this winter compared to last as China is allowing provinces to set their own production limits instead of imposing blanket measures.
"Looking ahead, the relaxed winter production cuts should continue to stimulate more production ahead," Lau said in a note.
Still, she said that with China's steel exports hindered by trade frictions with other countries, "the market balance may tip to slight oversupply, suppressing margins".
China's steel exports rose 15.8 percent from a year ago to 5.95 million tonnes in September, government data showed last week. But exports in January-September were down 10.7 percent at 53.08 million tonnes. ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange DCIOcv1 slipped 0.1 percent to 513 yuan a tonne. Coking coal DJMcv1 dropped 0.4 percent to 1,363 yuan and coke DCJcv1 gained 0.7 percent to 2,505 yuan. ($1 = 6.9191 Chinese yuan)