China's Shanxi to merge 9 large coking firms

June 26 MetalBiz--China's top coal and coke producing province, Shanxi, is considering merging nine, large state-owned coking firms in an effort to consolidate the sector, a senior official at the province's coking industry association said on June 26.

"We are sitting on the world's top coke resource, and we need to consolidate our industry to increase the weight of our words," said the official at the Shanxi Province Coking Industry Association, who declined to be named.

He refused to give details on the merger plan.

But the 21st Century Business Herald reported that the plan would include Shanxi Coking Group, Shanxi Coke Group, Taiyuan Coal Gasification Group, and a subsidiary of Xishan Coal and Electricity Power.

The combination of these companies would create a group with an annual production capacity of more than 12mln tons, the paper said.

China produced 324mln tons of coke in 2008, official data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

Shanxi's coking industry has long been plagued with heavy pollution and low efficiency. It has taken a heavy blow as demand from steel mills ebbed, and coke exports plunged in the economic downturn.