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China: Steelmakers merger on plan to produce more than the entire US steel industry

By  |  June 3, 2019

According to the Financial Times, a planned merger of China’s largest steelmaker and a domestic rival is set to create a group whose combined production exceeded that of the entire US steel industry last year, as Beijing pushes forward with efforts to consolidate its vast steel sector.

The two companies had combined crude steel output last year of 87 million tonnes, surpassing total US steel output of 86.6 million tonnes, according to World Steel Association data.

That would put the combined group only slightly behind the world’s number one steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, which produced 92.5 million tonnes of crude steel in 2018.

The merged group would have a combined capacity of 90 million tonnes, and further expansion “could see the company become the world’s largest steel producer within the next two to three years”, according to analysts at S&P Global.

Beijing aims to consolidate its fragmented steel sector so that the top 10 producers account for 60% of steel production, up from 35% now. Beijing has forced steelmakers to cut 200 million tonnes of capacity since 2016.

Full Content: Financial Times

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