Bumps ahead for industrial restructuring

China's latest restructuring plan for several of its key industries is hailed as a revolutionary move for the country. But despite the ambitious reshuffling plans, many analysts say tough challenges lay ahead. CCTV reporter Yin Hang takes a look at how one corporate restructuring between two well-known Chinese steel giants are currently in a heated deadlock.

The high-profile reshuffling of Anshan Steel and Benxi Steel seven years ago in China's Northeast have yielded little in results and much in headaches.

The combined company, AnBen Steel, was registered in Shenyang. But either physically or conceptionally. Anben steel doesn't seem to exist.

A Shenyang resident said, "There is no Anben Mansion on the street."

A storekeeper of Shenyang Steel market said, "I heard about the Anben Corporation. But in the market, there are products from Anshan Steel, there are also products from Benxi Steel. We never saw Anben Steel."

In accordance with its consolidation plan, Anshan and Benxi Steel would form a new company, uniting their data research, R&D, planning and sales capabilities. The new company would then work on a unified personnel system at a highly integrated and competitive way.

Now 7 years has passed, and here is the status quo:

A worker in Anshan Steel said, "I heard about the An Ben combination. But I don't see anything concrete. No changes at all."

The two companies have not yet reached a deal on resources and profits allocation. So the two companies are still operating on their own.

Zhang Xiaofang, General Manager of Benxi Steel, said, "Our two companies have lots of problems unsolved. I think we should think about how to resolve pressing issues for our workers' first before moving to the next step".

Once combined, the two steel giants would have to cut excessive workforces. But a one size fits all solution is currently nowhere to be found.

Experts say the purpose of industrial integration is to strengthen enterprises' competitiveness and weed out weaker competitors, so if a decision will not boost productivity, it shouldn't have been made or carried out.