According to Xu Lejiang, chairman of Shanghai-based Chinese steel giantBaosteel, in the first seven months of this year there was a decrease in the concentration of Chinese steelproductionamong the larger domestic producers. The main reasons cited by Mr. Xu were that the increase inproductionof small and medium-scale steel enterprises exceeded that of large-scale steel enterprises and also that merger and acquisition activity among steel companies inChinais progressing slowly.
Mr. Xu stated that in the first seven months of the current year the aggregate capacity of the top five steel enterprises inChinaaccounted for 28.8 percent of national capacity, while it had accounted for 33 percent in the same period last year, and adding that the capacity of the top 10 steel enterprises accounted for 48.2 percent of national capacity in January-August this year, compared to 48.4 percent in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, Mr. Xu also expected Chinese steel demand will keeping on increasing in 2011-2015, but with an increase rate of less than 10 percent