Mittal for Chinese steel industry consolidation

Mittal for Chinese steel industry consolidation

LONDON: Stressing consolidation of Chinese steel industry on lines of North America and Europe imperative, Mittal Steel Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Aditya Mittal said it would steer the global steel industry to be truly sustainable. "To date we have seen this most in the European and the North American markets. To make the steel industry to become truly sustainable on a long-term, this needs to be replicated in China," a release quoting him at the world steel dynamics conference here said. Terming the target for consolidation set out by Beijing as ambitious but sensible, Mittal maintained it would help not just China but the global industry. "By 2010 they would like the top 10 producers to comprise50 per cent of total market share and increase it to 70 per cent by 2020," he said.
Highlighting the highly fragmented nature of the Chinese market, the company CFO pointed out in such a fragmented market it was very difficult for producers to cut back the same way as had been possible in European and North American markets. "Benefits of consolidation is now visible with producers adopting a more market-oriented approach. However, these positive dynamics has not been replicated in China, the world's biggest consumer and producer of steel," he observed.
Mittal further said unlike North America and Europe, we are yet to see a price recovery in China because the Chinese companies are still very production focused.