Thyssenkrupp, Germany’s biggest steelmaker, has said that it is in talks with India’s Tata Steel about a consolidation of Europe’s steel mills, which are struggling with overcapacity, weak demand and cheap imports, Reuters reports.

Earlier this month, Tata Steel said that it has suspended the process of selling its troubled UK arm while it held talks with potential partners, which include Thyssenkrupp, about alternative and more sustainable solutions for its entire European business.

In addition to its UK operations, Tata Steel Europe also owns the former Hoogovens steel plant in the Netherlands.

According to a Reuters report, Nicola Roettger, a spokeswoman for Thyssenkrupp, said that her company has long said that it believes that a consolidation of the European steel industry is necessary due to the difficult economic conditions across the continent.

“We have also said already that in such a situation, everybody’s talking to everybody else. Among other (conversations), we are also talking to Tata Steel,” she said, adding that things have been ‘left open for now’, with more information to follow only if decisive progress towards consolidation had been made.