China Baowu Steel Group Corp., Ltd., commonly known as Baowu, is a state-owned iron and steel company headquartered in the Baosteel Tower in Pudong, Shanghai, China. The company was formed by Baosteel Group absorbing its smaller state-owned peer, Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation in 2016. It is the world's largest steel producer. In 2015, Baowu was the second largest steel producer in the world measured by crude steel output, with an annual output of around 35 million tons (China's total steel production in 2015 was 803.8 million tons), and employed 130,401 employees as of the end of 2012, had annual revenues of around $21.5 billion, and produces a mix of products. In 2019, the company closed the gap with ArcelorMittal reaching 95.47 million tons of steel, and hitting $78 billion in revenues, with 195 434 employees. According to World Steel Association (Chinese companies data were provided by China Iron and Steel Association), the corporation was ranked the 5th in 2015 the world ranking by production volume (2nd in China for 34.938 million metric tons). A plan to merge with Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation was announced on 21–22 September 2016, which would make the combined production volume the second highest in the world (34.938 million + 25.776 million), after ArcelorMittal (97.136 million in 2015), surpassing Hesteel Group (47.745 million in 2015). Since Baosteel Group and Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation also announced targets of cutting 3.95 and 4.42 million metric tons production capacity respectively in June and July 2016, and a further cut for Baosteel Group of 2.10 million while a 3.15 million cut was already planned the final ranking may still significantly change. The IPO of the subsidiary of Baosteel Group on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2000 was the largest in China up to that time, raising CNY 7.7 billion despite being limited to domestic investors only. History Baoshan Iron and Steel In 1978, as part of the Chinese government's reform and opening, Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping sought to develop large-scale steel production in China. The government planned for a large integrated steel production facility to be located near the port of Shanghai, in Baoshan District, a suburb of Shanghai. In 1978, a delegation from the Chinese government, including Deng Xiaoping himself, visited a steel mill operated by Nippon Steel to learn how to construct such a large facility. As the government's flagship steel company, Baoshan Iron