Shijiazhuang Iron and Steel Co Ltd has now officially been taken over by Hebei Iron and Steel Group.
Wang Yifang president of the Group lately said in Beijing that the next step will be the overall move of Shijiazhuang Steel to town HuangHua at Cangzhou in Hebei province
He said that the personnel allocation would be a big problem in the overall move of the steel mill of a population of about 8000, which might be the main consideration of CITIC Pacific when it signed the equity transfer agreement.
Apart from the move consideration, the complementary product mix and HBIS ambition of becoming stronger led to this consolidation. With the new acquisition, Hebei Iron and Steel Group capacity now reaches 50 million tons (MT).
Wang said the group doesn't plan to launch new projects during the 12th five plan period from 2011 to 2015, but will be exclusively involved in the improvement of its product mix.
He said the group will intensify the development of domestic ore mines with a target of an output of 30 MT of concentrate by 2015, try to expand its industrial chains and acquire overseas resource assets and shoulder the burden of consolidation of steel industry in Hebei province with private steel mills counted in target.

China's large steel makers, Sinosteel and Anshan Iron and Steel Corp, are willing to further continue investing in Australia despite a 40 percent tax on the Australian mining industry.
According to a report, Tianwen Sinosteel, President of Sinosteel said that it was reviewing how the tax will impact our companies and undoubtedly, it will affect costs and profits in our local projects.
He said from a long-term perspective, the company is still committed to exploring more overseas resources.
Bai Jingpu, Vice President of Anshan Steel also said the company is evaluating and analysing the impact of the super tax on the Australian mining industry, but the company will continue to invest in the country.
The super tax plan is expected to start in July 2012. Some Australian mining companies are worried the move will make the nation mining assets less attractive.
Chinese companies have long wanted to invest in overseas resources to secure raw material supplies and sealed several merger and acquisition deals in Australia last year.
The rising cost of raw materials is also spurring Chinese companies to accelerate the pace of overseas mining acquisitions.
According to data from the Customs office, iron ore imports by China, the largest buyer in the world, grew 11.6 percent in the first four months of 2010 from the previous year.

Baoshan Iron and Steel Co Ltd released its price policy for June delivery recently, keeping almost all varieties prices unchanged from May. The market analysts said this is line with market expectation since the overall scenario is stable either in terms of supply and demand or production cost.
Baosteel announced recently that June prices for HRC, pickled steel, common carbon CR, HDG EG and some other varities are all flat.
Wang Jianhua, Mysteel Analyst commented this pricing policy is within expectation, since the spot steel market has shown little changes at present, the production and supply remain at high levels and demand also has its supportive factors but with no substantial expansion.
He said that in terms of cost, the materials prices including iron ore are standing similarly high but there is limited room for further rises. It's wise for the steelmakers to follow the market situation and consider the endurance of downstream sectors.

Kobe Steel Limited, Mitsui and Company Limited and Toyota Tsusho Corporation announced that they have signed an agreement to form a JV company in China to produce and market aluminum forgings for automotive suspensions. Provisionally called Kobe Aluminum Automotive Products Company Limited, the new company will be established in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province in June. Following construction of a plant, production is anticipated to begin in August 2012.
Aluminum forgings for automotive suspensions are increasingly used in luxury cars to reduce vehicle weight and meet environmental regulations. Kobe Steel has a high share of the Japanese market for aluminum forgings for suspensions and manufactures the product in the company's Daian plant in Inabe, Mie Prefecture, Japan.
In 2003, Kobe Steel, Mitsui and Toyota Tsusho established Kobe Aluminum Automotive Products, LLC in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA as a production base for the North American auto market. KAAP began operations in 2005 to meet the demand from automakers in North America.
In the current economic situation, China is an important manufacturing location for both Japanese and Western automakers. Demand is anticipated to increase for aluminum suspensions in China as auto production steadily rises.
The global procurement of materials and parts for automakers is expected to accelerate. Sourcing parts for world strategic cars, automakers need a local structure that can supply their production systems at each location.
Kobe Steel, Mitsui and Toyota Tsusho concluded that it was essential to establish a production site in China to meet the growing orders from automakers in China, leading the three companies to the decision to establish a new joint venture in that country.
Similar to KAAP in the United States, the new company in China will see Kobe Steel in charge of production, quality control and business operations. Mitsui and Toyota Tsusho will be responsible for the important role of expanding sales to automotive manufacturers and parts makers in China, utilizing their experience in this business and their networks. The joint venture will consider increasing production capacity in the future as the need arises to meet demand from automakers.

Anshan Iron and Steel Group is pushing forward for consolidation with Panzhihua Iron and Steel Group.
Bai Jingpu Vice President of Anshan said: "We will start dealing with the one which is first ready for merger and acquisition (M&A). He also emphasised this year's major work is to speed up the consolidation with Panzhihua Steel and disclosed that solid progress will be achieved by this year end in M&A of one of the two mills at least.” He predicted that after this round of acquisition, Anshan Iron and Steel Group will likely increase its capacity up to 40 MT to 50 MT within five years. Now, Anshan Iron and Steel Group capacity is 25 MT and that of Benxi Iron and Steel Group and Panzhihua Iron and Steel stands at 11 MT and 10 MT respectively.
As per report, Benxi Iron and Steel Group is another consolidation target which was set years ago but has got no progress so far.

Chinese steel demand will surge over the next decade as infrastructure and property development continue to drive economic growth, a researcher from the country's top economic planner said.
Hu Chunli from the National Development and Reform Commission's Institute of Industrial Development said efforts to adopt a less resource-intensive pattern of growth were unlikely to have an impact on steel consumption for at least a decade. "As the pressure to maintain economic growth is maintained, the structure of the growth is unlikely to change dramatically during the Twelfth Five-Year plan (2011-2015) and even the Thirteenth Five-Year plan (2016-2020) -- basically for the next 10 years," Hu said.
Construction accounts for more than 60 percent of total investment and more than half of steel demand in China, He commented.
The lack of innovation in research and development means that it will be a long way before China can develop its own knowledge-based, high value-added industries, such as telecommunications, information technology, and pharmaceuticals. He added that the steel sector had grown rapidly in the past few years due to robust demand, despite government efforts to curb overheating in the industry.