WSJ reports the co consolidation in China's steel industry took a step forward Tuesday with the announcement of a merger between three major producers to create one of the country's biggest listed steel makers by output. Shenzhen-listed Tangshan Iron & Steel said it plans to merge with Chengde Xinxin Vanadium & Titanium and Handan Iron & Steel, both of which are listed in Shanghai, through share swaps. The merger of the three cos, which share the same parent company, fits with the government's push to make its steel makers bigger and stronger to improve the sector's efficiency, as well as to reduce pollution and energy consumption, particularly at a time of slowing economic growth amid the global financial crisis.