Hard days for China's cement makers
The state-owned parent firms of cement producers China National Materials Co (1893) and China National Building Material Co (3323) plan a "strategic reorganization," the two listed companies said in filings to the stock exchange yesterday.
They said the proposal has not yet been finalized, but it does not involve any material assets.
Both of the cement makers saw falls of more than 10 percent in their revenues for the first nine months of 2015 compared with the previous year.
This came as a slowdown in construction hurt the cement industry, which is wrestling with an overcapacity problem.
Real estate investment also grew last month at its slowest pace 1 percent year-on-year since February 2009, data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows.
New housing starts declined 14 percent in December from a year earlier as developers tried to sell off bloated inventories of unsold homes. The overall inventory floor area was 15.6 percent higher than 12 months previously.
The corrective action comes after Premier Li Keqiang backed deeper cuts to reduce capacity amid supply-side reform.
China aims to shut off from 100 million to 150 million tonnes of steel capacity and halt approvals of new coal mines as it tackles oversupply from heavy industry.
Source: AGENCIES