BEIJING, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Two state-owned building materials providers have started merger preparations in the latest consolidation of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

The Assets Supervision and Administration Commission on Monday announced the reorganization of the China National Building Materials Group Corporation (CNBM) and China National Materials Group Corporation Ltd. (SINOMA) in an online statement.

The commission did not provide further details on the merger.

CNBM is the world's major non-metal materials manufacturer, and cement equipment and engineering service provider, with total assets over 430 billion yuan (64.51 billion U.S. dollars).

SINOMA is also an industry leader in the non-metal materials sector.

China has started accelerating the reorganization of its SOEs to improve their competitiveness. A merger of two tourism companies was announced in early August.

There are currently more than 100 SOEs directly regulated by the central government, while many more are under the administration of local authorities.