China MIIT ditches steel industry consolidation targets in new plan
Reuters
reported that China's policymakers have again promised to make it
easier for steel mills to merge and consolidate, but they appear to have
ditched a long-standing target to bring 60 percent of the sector under
the control of its 10 biggest enterprises by 2015.
A
new industry consolidation plan published on the website of the
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (www.miit.gov.cn) late
on Monday said China would continue to simplify approval procedures and
also make it easier for firms in bloated sectors like steel, cement and
aluminium to finance acquisitions.
But
the plan did not include the target, last mentioned in official policy
documents in January 2013, to put 60 percent of China's total steel
production capacity in the hands of its top 10 steel mills by the end of
2015, up from about 40 percent.
The
target was part of a state strategy designed to help state owned steel
firms become more competitive by encouraging them to swallow smaller
rivals, and led to a series of high-profile mergers in the sector. But
the approach has been heavily criticised within the industry, with big
firms increasingly reluctant to take on more unprofitable capacity.
Source - Reuters
