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China’s Anshan Iron & Steel’s merger with Benxi Iron & Steel finally materialized Aug. 19 after going through several hurdles since 2005. The move not only signals accelerated consolidation in the steel industry, but also points to an intensifying competition between steelmakers at a time when economic growth is slowing down.
China’s government is a major supporter of steel industry consolidation as it wants to have a larger influence in negotiating raw material prices.
The deal
China’s Liaoning province has agreed to transfer its 51% shares of Benxi Iron & Steel, or Bengang, to central government-owned Anshan Iron & Steel, or Angang, for free, Bengang’s Shenzhen-listed arm Bengang Steel Plates Co. said Aug. 19.
After the takeover, Angang will become China’s second-largest steelmaker after Baowu Group. The combined entity’s crude steel output comes at 55.55 million mt for 2020, compared to Baowu’s 115.29 million mt. Overall, this deal makes Angang the world’s third-largest steelmaker after Baowu and ArcelorMittal.
Both Angang and Bengang are in northeastern China’s Liaoning province, but different ownerships with tax re-allocation problems emerged as major hurdles that have held back the merger for several years.
However, with the central government pushing for steel industry consolidation, different ownerships were no longer seen as an obstacle for mergers and acquisition in China’s steel industry, some sources said.
Steelmakers eye market share
Moreover, steelmakers have shown keenness to merge with others to strengthen their market share, now that growth in end-user markets has eased in tandem with China’s slowing economic growth, some sources said.
One source said China’s vehicle production has been trending downward after it peaked in 2017.
Taking the case of Baowu Group, it saw its automotive sheet market share rise in the past few years after it merged Baosteel and Wuhan Iron & Steel in 2016 and acquired Maanshan Iron & Steel in 2019, the source added.
Baowu is one of Angang’s major competitors in the automotive sheet market.
China’s steel industry consolidation is not entirely government driven, another source said.
Top mills such as Angang and Baowu Group will continue with their acquisition efforts to raise their share in steel markets, while smaller mills will eye partnerships with major companies to survive in an increasingly competitive market with rising environmental protection costs, the source added.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has set the target to increase the ratio of the top five steelmakers’ crude steel output to China’s total output to 40% by 2025.
After the merger of Angang and Bengang, the combined crude steel production of China’s top five steelmakers will account for around 27% of the country’s total crude steel production, showed S&P Global Platts calculations based on steelmakers’ output.
Source: Platts