Hebei Province’s crude steel output continues to rise in Jan-Feb

Tuesday, 30 March 2010 18:01:06 (GMT+2)

In the January-February this year, Hebei Province's metallurgical enterprises produced crude steel, finished steel and pig iron in aggregate volumes of 26,095,300 mt, 26,748,100 mt and 25,442,200 mt respectively, with increases of 37.46 percent, 36.98 percent and 30.82 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, the data reveal that the product sales of these enterprises in Hebei Province has slackened and that their profits have begun to decline. In January-February, major metallurgical enterprises' sales-output ratio stood at 93.93%, registering a decrease of 0.30 percentage points. The cause of the enterprises' profit decrease has been the rise in the price of raw material and coal.  So far in 2010, the purchase price of domestic concentrated iron fines has risen by more than RMB 100/mt. Meanwhile, foreign suppliers have limited or halted supplies of iron ore based on long-term agreements, and so domestic enterprises have been forced to purchase iron ore on the spot market where the CIF price exceeds $140/mt.

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