The establishment of Shandong Iron & Steel Group from the merger of the two largest steel producers in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong, Jinan Iron & Steel Group and Laiwu Iron & Steel Group, is approaching its completion. The chairman of the new company has been named as Zou Zhong-chen, the general manager of Shandong Metallurgical Industry General Co. Meanwhile, the new chairmen of group subsidiaries Jinan Iron & Steel Group Corporation and Laiwu Iron & Steel Group have also been named, with the respective appointments of Wang Jun and Song Lanxiang. In addition, most of the top management team of Shandong Iron & Steel Group is now in place.
The 2007 outputs of Jinan Iron & Steel Group and Laiwu Iron & Steel Group stood at 10.83 million mt and 10.79 million mt respectively, ranking eighth and ninth among Chinese iron and steel enterprises. With the incorporation of the two producers into Shandong Steel Group, the output of the new company will exceed 20 million mt, ranking among the top three Chinese iron and steel companies.
The plan to establish Shandong Iron & Steel Group was developed as early as 2006, but no substantial progress was made due to various reasons. Last December the Shandong provincial government pushed ahead with the merger plan to incorporate Jinan Iron & Steel Group and Laiwu Iron & Steel Group within a new company which would take its place among China's large-scale iron and steel groups.