It was reported that the chairman of Benxi Steel Group said that company will not merge with Ansteel Group after a talk of the potential merger.

The two steel groups have talked for merger in 2005 as the provincial government strived to keep and deleverage the heavy industry. However, Benxi Steel has stopped the talk with Ansteel. The company has managed for reforms on ownership structure in September which helped the company to attract the private capital. It also expected the lower debt and to reduce financial costs.

In 2018, Shagang Group acquired the indebted Dongbei Special Steel Group in Liaoning. Also, the private-owned steelmaker Jianglong Group bought Xilin Steel Corp. in Heilongjiang province.

China will encourage on mergers and industrial consolidation in 2019 as it planned to arrange 60% of total steel capacity in the country on the top 10 steelmakers by 2020.