Sept 13, 2012
Translated by Tang Xiangyang

Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corporation (鞍山鋼鐵集團公司) formed a new board yesterday, as announced by the Organization Department of the CPC and State-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). Zhang Guangning (張廣寧), former party secretary of Guangzhou, has been appointed as the chairman of the board and party secretary of the state-owned steel giant.

Its former party secretary and general manager, Zhang Xiaogang (張曉剛), will still be the general manager.

It’s normal in state-owned enterprises for the chairman of board to also serve as the party secretary, while the general manager takes care of the company’s daily operations.

Xu Jiaxin (徐家欣), head of the fifth cadre bureau under the Ministry of Organization, said that Zhang was “politically good, has worked in enterprises and for local governments for a long time, and is familiar with the industrial economy.” 

Before working for the Guangzhou government, Zhang had been working for Guangzhou Iron and Steel Enterprises Group (廣州鋼鐵企業集團) for over 20 years.

Because of the Chaoyang Project (朝陽項目) and Bayuquan Project (鲅魚圈項目), the Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corporation began to suffer losses last November. It was still at a loss for the first four months this year. “The situation in May was becoming better, but it hasn’t been that good in the last two months,” said an official from the company’s press office. “The situation never becomes stable.” 

The Angang Steel Company Ltd. (鞍鋼股份有限公司), a subsidiary of the Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corporation, suffered a 2.15 billion yuan loss last year, which was the greatest among all listed steel companies. In the first half of this year, the loss volume was nearly 2 billion yuan.

Links and sources
The Beijing News- 鞍鋼換帥 張廣寧“空降”