Qi Xiangdong, vice secretary general of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), has disclosed that in November China's 72 large and medium steel mills posted a combined net profit of RMB 7.258 billion ($1.062 billion), and that the net profit in December is expected to be even higher. Consequently, the total profit registered by the Chinese large and medium steel mills in 2009 will be around RMB 50 billion ($7.32 billion), down about 40 percent compared with the 2008 level of RMB 84.6 billion.
Meanwhile, Mr. Qi also said that large mills like Baotou Steel, Jinan Steel, Panzhihua Steel and Benxi Steel were still in the red in the month of November, due to high production costs and low product prices.
As commented by Qi Xiangdong, with total steel production of 500-600 million mt, China's steel industry will only post an overall net profit of RMB 50 billion for the whole year, which indicates the unreasonable levels of steel prices.