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BEIJING, January 16 (TMTPOST) —— Henan provincial government in central China intends to form a provincial steel group in 2023 by merging existing steel firms to improve the competitiveness of them, according to the government work report released at the first session of the 14th Henan Provincial People"s Congress.  

As early as January 3, the People"s Government of Henan Province issued a circular to promote the high-end development of advanced basic materials, focus on expanding the scale of recycled metal production, accelerate the large-scale transformation of steel enterprise equipment, and establish a provincial steel group and a new materials investment group.

Anyang Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. (Angang Group) is the leader and main part of the proposed Henan Iron and Steel Group. At the end of 2021, Henan province"s crude steel output was 33.161 million tons, ranking ninth in the country. Angang Group, an enterprise directly controlled by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Henan Province, had a total production capacity of about 10 million tons in 2021, making it the largest steel enterprise in Henan.

An action plan on transformation and upgrading of the iron and steel industry in Henan province issued at the end of 2021 proposed to accelerate the promotion of mergers and acquisitions. In accordance with marketization and the rule of law, the plan encourages advantageous enterprises to engage in cross-regional mergers and reorganizations, establish large-scale joint steel groups, and increase industrial concentration.

The plan also proposes to support Angang Group Xinyang Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., Minyuan Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. and Henan Angang Zhoukou Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. to form regional steel complexes and build six steel production bases in Anyang, Jiyuan, Pingdingshan, Xinyang, Shangqiu and Zhoukou to improve the scale and expertise of the industry.