In 1905, after the
Russo-Japanese War, Liaoning fall under the
sphere of influence of Japan. Japanese
Okura Kihachiro opened a coal mine in Benxi. After the protest of
Qing Government, it became a Sino-Japanese joint venture in 1910 (as ). In the next year the company added "Iron" in the denomination (as ). After the
Mukden Incident, the company was under sole Japanese control until the end of
World War II. During
Chinese Civil War, in 1948 the company and Liaoning fall under
Chinese Communist Party controls. In 1953, the coal mine was separated from the company as Benxi Mining Bureau. (now part of
Shenyang Coal Industry) The steel refinery was also modified under the aid of
Soviet Union as 1 of of the
First Five-year plan of China. It was one of the 512 important
state-owned enterprises in 1997 (1 of 47 iron and steel industry). In 2005 a merger between
Benxi Iron and Steel and
Anshan Iron & Steel Group Corporation was announced but never materialized. In 2010 a new holding company was formed to takeover "Benxi Iron and Steel" and "Beitai Iron and Steel", located in Beitai, a town in
Pingshan District, Benxi. The latter was owned by SASAC of Benxi City, but was transferred to Liaoning SASAC in order to finalize the merger. In August 2021, Bengang began a merger with
Ansteel Group which, once completed, will create the third largest metal producer in the world. During the disaster of
Air France flight AF447 in 2009, Benxi Iron and Steel Company lost 6 employees, including the executive Chen Chiping, the wife of Liaoning's vice provincial governor
Liu Guoqiang. ==Subsidiaries==