Companies

Anshan Steel to raise crude steel capacity

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-06-25 10:25

Anshan Steel Group targets an annual 60 million tons of crude steel capacity over the next five years, creating China's biggest steel producer, the company said on Thursday.

The Liaoning-based steel company, the parent of listed Angang Steel Co, aimed to become the top five steelmaker in the world by 2015, it said on its website.

Anshan Steel, together with its sister company Benxi Steel, produced a combined 29.3 million tons of crude steel last year, and has been approved to acquire Panzhihua Steel as a way to forge the country's top steelmaker.

The Chinese government wants its top ten steel mills to account for more than 60 percent of the country's total steel capacity by 2015, as it attempts to consolidate its fragmented steel sector.

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However, it has said it will also halt approvals for any new steel project until the end of next year, encouraging big steel mills to expand capacity mainly by mergers and acquisitions.

Anshan Steel also wants to source 65-percent of its own iron ore, a key ingredient for making steel for which major Chinese steel mills have heavily relied on imports.

Anshan Steel plans to reach a capacity of 45,000 tons a year for vanadium products and 1 million tons for titanium concentrate, it added in the statement.

China's top three steel mills are Hebei Steel, Baosteel and Wuhan Steel, in terms of last year's output.