	nippon steel denies china seeking japanese plants nippon steel corp nstc t denied local newspaper reports that china has been seeking to buy steel plants from japanese firms which plan to suspend output under the recently announced rationalisation program the mainichi shimbun quoted nippon steel as saying that china s state planning commission and some chinese firms have asked japanese makers to sell them steel works and rolling mills to expand steelmaking cheaply it named no sources a nippon steel spokesman told reuters that china has made no such official request and the company was not considering such sales at the moment but mainichi quoted nippon steel officials as saying if prices are reasonable they would export their used mills to china the paper said china s crude steel output totalled mln tonnes in calendar and that it plans to increase to mln by japan s steel industry rationalisation plan is aimed at cutting production capacity sharply over the next few years reuter 
