China's top steel maker Baowu Steel Group Co, formed in a mega merger last year, will consider other merger and acquisition opportunities amid a government drive to consolidate the market and cut overcapacity.
"We will track and do research on M&A opportunities and actively participate in these opportunities as a market player," Ma Guoqiang, president of Baowu Steel, said in an e-mail reply to Reuters on Sunday.
China's steel producers will not expand their production capacities in the future, but will aim to improve efficiency of the sector and pursue higher quality products, he said.
Baowu is seen as a potential bidder for Chongqing Iron & Steel Co, a loss-making one, according to a report by domestic business magazine Caixin Weekly on October 2.
The top producer, with more than 70 million tons in annual production capacity, said it looks to improve production at its Baoshan, Qingshan, Meishan and Zhanjiang plants, Ma said.
Baowu Steel was formed by a merger formally completed in December 2016 between Shanghai-based Baoshan Iron and Steel Group and its smaller rival Wuhan Iron and Steel based in Central China's Hubei Province.
The nation will continue cracking down on steel overcapacity, preventing obsolete plants from restarting and promoting more mergers in the sector, Ning Jizhe, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, told reporters during the ongoing 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on Saturday. [Special coverage]
The government is driving a major campaign to rationalize its sprawling State sector from steel to energy as it looks to reduce overcapacity and increase control of key markets.
