China’s cement industry will experience fierce merger and acquisition activity in the years to come, Lei Qianye, director of the China Cement Association, told the 2008 China International Cement Conference Wednesday, the China Securities Journal reported. China currently has around 5,000 cement makers with an annual capacity of at least five million tons, and nearly 1,000 smaller players. Lei predicted the number of cement makers would decrease to 3,500 in several years. An official with the National Development and Reform Commission told the conference that the current round of mergers and acquisitions would result in the top ten cement makers all boosting capacity to 30 million tons, accounting between them for 30% of China’s total cement output.