China top 10 steel cos produce 48 pct of 2010 output -ministry

BEIJING Jan 27 (Reuters) - China's 10 biggest steel mills produced 48.1 percent of the country's total crude steel output in 2010, up from 44.5 percent in 2009, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said at a briefing on Thursday.

China aims to put 60 percent of total steel capacity in the hands of its top 10 firms by the end of 2015, according to its latest five-year plan for the industry. [ID:nTOE70P02G]

Analysts have attributed last year's increase to the one-off campaign to meet state energy efficiency targets, which included power supply restrictions to hundreds of small steel mills in Hebei province and elsewhere.

China has long struggled to eliminate the small players in the industry that have thrived amid robust demand for low-end construction steel products.

But Beijing hopes that tougher rules on energy and water utilisation, coupled with new environmental regulations as well as bans on small smelters, will help it meet its target by 2015. (Reporting by David Stanway, Editing by Ken Wills)