The global steel industry is highly cyclical, very competitive, and still fragmented in terms of market share. Currently, the industry is at the height of the business cycle and is going through a consolidation phase, which might result in the smaller players being acquired by the larger ones. The total output from the industry exceeded 1.4 billion tons in 2005, most of it augmented by the increase in output from China. This is expected to increase further, making steel output from China among the largest in the world.