The Chinese government has been reported to be studying a plan of consolidating eight of its country's vital industries, including the rare earths sector.

According to the Economic Information Daily newspaper on Monday, China is pushing the small entreprises in the eight industries towards mergers and acquisitions in order to strengthen these vital industries.

Apart from rare earths, the other industries planned for consolidation included automobiles, aluminum, steel, cement, machinery manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and electronic information industries.

"Enterprises are small and scattered, and there are problems with the low level of specialisation and socialisation," the Economic Information Daily quoted Zhu Hongren, chief engineer at the Ministry of Industry, as saying. "This has resulted in inefficient resource allocation and other outstanding issues."

The consolidation is reportedly being pushed by China's National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration of the State Council, the newspaper said.

The restructuring job, the Economic Information Daily reported, will happen later this year onwards next year. The State Council will accelerate the launch of new policy in a bid to boost it, the report added.