Masaki Koito, director of the iron and steel division at the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, said that Japan should be more flexible on merger rules and let Japanese steelmakers enhance their competitiveness against global steelmakers, apparently referring to China which implements a policy favoring mergers given the very large number of steelmakers in the country.
As reported by news sources, criticizing Japan's corporate anti-trust watchdog, the Fair Trade Commission, Masaki called for global competitiveness to be taken into account when the watchdog evaluates mergers among domestic companies.
Tokyo Tekko Co. Ltd and Kyoei Steel Ltd, two Japanese electric furnace steelmakers, called off a plan to merge operations in late 2009 due to uncertainties about getting approval from the Fair Trade Commission.