An official with Shandong provincial government was quoted as saying by Beijing Business Today that the incorporation of Jinan Steel and Laiwu Steel, two 10 million tonne steelmakers in Eastern China's Shandong province, has been postponed due to problem in personnel rearrangement.

The report mentions that an official with the SASACS said "Almost everything is suspended in the air, but one thing for sure is that the official incorporation of the new steel group has been put off, due primarily to disagreement on management reshuffling".

According to a joint statement released by Jinan Steel and Laiwu Steel this August, the two steelmakers were to combine into 30 million tonne steel giant under the support of State owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Shandong Province. The incorporation of the new Shandong Iron and Steel Croup was originally slated for late October.

A well informed source told reporters that as both steelmakers are equal rivals in Shandong Province, it will be very hard for them to reach an agreement on such issues as who is going to head the group and who is going to take charge of high value added product sales, where most profits come from.

(Sourced from Mysteel.net)