Mittal Steel Co, the world's biggest steelmaker, is in talks to buy as much as 49 percent of China's Baotou Iron & Steel Group, in what would be its second acquisition in the world's largest market for the metal.

The stake would be capped at 49 percent under existing Chinese laws limiting foreign ownership, Mittal Chief Operating Officer Malay Mukherjee said on Wednesday.

Acquiring that much of Baotou would boost output for Rotterdam- based Mittal by about 5 percent. Mukherjee declined to estimate how much the stake would cost or how long talks will last.

China produces a third of the world's steel and is the world's biggest consumer of the metal, which is used in buildings, cars and appliances. China's steel production will probably expand 25 percent this year and 15 percent next year, according to a Bloomberg survey of five analysts in September.

"It is good to be in early in the game, against perhaps waiting too long and finding that all the good relationships for joint ventures are taken," Stephen Pope, an analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald in London, said on Wednesday.

Shares of Mittal fell 5 cents to US$25.80 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have fallen 33 percent this year compared with a 3.8 percent rise in the Standard & Poor's 500 index.

Mittal's existing Chinese asset is a 36.7 percent stake in Hunan Valin Steel Tube & Wire Co, which it bought in September for about US$317 million.

The Chinese Government will progressively "allow foreigners to participate in a larger way" in the steel industry, Lakshmi Mittal, the company's chairman, said in October.

Arcelor SA, the world's second-largest steelmaker, is in talks with China's Laiwu Steel Corp for its first acquisition in the country, Chief Executive Guy Dolle said in October.

China, with more than 260 steelmakers, in July announced a plan to force some mills to merge and to shut small, polluting furnaces to curb expansion.

By 2010, China wants to have two major steelmakers, each with a capacity of more than 30 million metric tons a year, and a few others that can each produce 10 million tons a year.

Shanghai-based Baosteel Group Corp, the nation's largest producer, makes less than 10 percent of the steel made domestically.

Chinese steel prices are recovering more slowly than in regions such as Europe and North America because the Asian nation's industry is fragmented, Mittal President and Chief Financial Officer Aditya Mittal said in a November speech.

With investments in China, Mittal is likely counting on rule changes for foreign investors, New York-based analyst Charles Bradford said in an interview. Mittal prefers to have a majority stake in companies to be able to control cash use, Bradford said.

Falling steel prices have hurt Chinese steelmakers, making the cost of acquisitions more attractive while other steel assets in the world are going for a premium, he said.

"China may be one of the last places where you can buy things on the cheap," Bradford said.

Baotou Iron, which is owned by China's government, produced 5.4 million tons of steel last year, according to the Brussels-based International Iron & Steel Institute. Mittal made 42.1 million tons, prior to buying International Steel Group Inc, created by Wilbur Ross, for US$4.5 billion in April.

Baotou is based in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The steelmaker was created in 1954 and plans to expand production to 10 million tons by 2007, according to its Web site.

(China Daily December 30, 2005)