Three major steel mills will merge into China's biggest steel group, with annual capacity reaching 46 million tons, China Business News reported Monday.

Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corp, Pangang Group Company, and Benxi Iron and Steel (Group) will become subsidiaries of the new Anshan Iron and Steel (Group) following the restructuring, an insider with Ansteel told the paper on Sunday.

The source said Zhang Xiaogang, Party secretary and general manager of Ansteel, would be appointed board chairman of the new group. It remained unknown which one of the chairmen of Pangang and Benxi Steel would serve as the vice-chairman, he said.

Currently, Ansteel has an annual capacity of 25 million tons, Benxi Steel 11 million tons, and Pangang 10 million tons. The combined capacity of the three would reach 46 million tons, surpassing that of Hebei Iron and Steel Group Co, which produced 40.2 million tons of crude steel last year and ranked No 1 in China and No 2 in the world.

In 2009, Ansteel registered 77 billion yuan in revenue and three billion yuan in profit, while Benxi Steel posted losses of 1.96 billion yuan and Pangang losses of one billion yuan.

Ansteel and Benxi Steel are located in northeast China's Liaoning province, while Pangang is based in southwest China's Sichuan province.