Hebei Iron and Steel Group, the country's largest steelmaker by output, has become the world's second-largest crude steel producer with output reaching 40.2 million tons in 2009, according to the list of the world's top 20 crude steel makers in 2009 that was released by London-based Steel Business Briefing, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

According to the list, Shanghai-based Baosteel Group ranked third globally. The company's crude steel output was 38.87 million tons last year, up 9.9% year on year.

Three other Chinese steel producers that were included in the top 10 list were Wuhan Iron & Steel (Group) Corp, Anshan Iron & Steel Group Corp and Jiangsu-based Shagang Group, whose output stood at 30.3 million tons, 29.3 tons and 26.4 million tons in 2009, respectively.

According to the ranking, Arcelor Mittal remained the world's largest crude steel producer, with an output of 73.2 million tons in 2009.