Baosteel Group Corp, the nation's second-biggest steelmaker, said Monday in its five-year plan that it targeted annual crude steel capacity of 50 million tons by 2012 and 66 million tons by 2015, the China Securities Journal reported Tuesday.
In 2007 the company said it wanted to boost capacity to 80 million tons by 2012.
Baosteel's amendment to its capacity target was based on its prudent anticipation of the steel industry's development between 2010 and 2015.
The Shanghai-based steelmaker believed that the world economy's road to recovery would be bumpy, unpredictable and long, and China's economic restructuring would bring greater uncertainties.
Given the backdrop of overcapacity, fierce competition, high resource costs and more trade protectionism, China's steel industry would enter a slow-growth period with thin margins, Baosteel said.
