China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration (SASAC) have launched a merger and reorganization scheme for nine major industrial sectors, including steel, cement, automotive, machinery manufacturing, electronic information, shipbuilding, rare earth, electrolytic aluminum and agriculture.
The nine major sectors include about 900 listed companies, with the total market value of the companies in question amounting to RMB 4 trillion ($637 billion).
According to the scheme, by 2015 the share of the top 10 steel enterprises in China of the national total in terms of output and market share is expected to reach about 60 percent, while three to five internationally influential and competitive steel groups as well as a further six to seven large steel groups with strong influence in the Chinese domestic market are to be formed, as stated by Zhu Hongren, general engineer at the MIIT.
Furthermore, by 2015 the output of the top 10 shipbuilding enterprises in China will constitute over 70 percent of total shipbuilding output in China. Accordingly, over five Chinese shipbuilding companies are expected to rank among the top ten largest shipbuilding companies worldwide.