According to the latest data issued by the Metallurgical Industry Association of China's Hebei Province, in the first half of this year the province's steel sector achieved a total operating income of RMB 456.552 billion ($67.4 billion), increasing by 42.55 percent compared with the same period of 2009. Meanwhile, in the same period the net profit of the steel sector in Hebei rose by 39.83 percent year on year to RMB 11.492 billion ($1.7 billion).
Despite the encouraging figures for the first half of the year, the local steel industry registered a drop in profit in June. Following successive month-on-month increases in the first five months, profits in June slipped to RMB 1.501 billion ($222 million), down from RMB 3.167 billion ($468 million) in May. Hebei Metallurgical Industry Association general secretary Wang Dayong commented that the drop in profits can be attributed to excess steel production both in the province and across China.
In the first six months, the total output volumes of crude steel and finished steel in Hebei Province reached 80.97 million mt and 90.61 million mt respectively, up 25.19 percent and 34.52 percent. These respective increases were 4.19 and 8.42 percentage points higher than the national averages.