| NIPPON STEEL DENIES CHINA SEEKING JAPANESE PLANTS | |
| Nippon Steel Corp <NSTC.T> denied local | |
| newspaper reports that China has been seeking to buy steel | |
| plants from Japanese firms which plan to suspend output under | |
| the recently announced rationalisation program. | |
| The Mainichi Shimbun quoted Nippon Steel as saying that | |
| China's State Planning Commission and some Chinese firms have | |
| asked Japanese makers to sell them steel works and rolling | |
| mills to expand steelmaking cheaply. It named no sources. | |
| A Nippon Steel spokesman told Reuters that China has made | |
| no such official request, and the company was not considering | |
| such sales at the moment. | |
| But Mainichi quoted Nippon Steel officials as saying if | |
| prices are reasonable, they would export their used mills to | |
| China. | |
| The paper said China's crude steel output totalled 52 mln | |
| tonnes in calendar 1986 and that it plans to increase to 80 mln | |
| by 1996. | |
| Japan's steel industry rationalisation plan is aimed at | |
| cutting production capacity sharply over the next few years. | |