Baosteel Group Corp's overseas expansion plans will focus on raw materials until a "clear" picture emerges about global steel demand, the chairman of China's largest steelmaker said.

Other Chinese steelmakers are also likely to hold back from "large-scale" capacity expansion overseas in the next three to five years as they focus on completing domestic mergers, Baosteel's Xu Lejiang said yesterday at a conference in Beijing.

"Currently the majority of Chinese steelmakers don't have a very clear strategy in overseas expansion," Xu said. "I plan to just focus on resources and won't consider merging steel capacity or making new investments in building plants overseas unless I have a clear idea of how the market will grow."