According to World Steel Association (Chinese companies data was 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).[6] A plan to merge with Wuhan Iron and Steel Corporation was announced on 21–22 September 2016,[7] 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[8] and July 2016,[9] and a further cut for Baosteel Group of 2.10 million while a 3.15 million cut was already planned[10] the final ranking may still significantly change.