According to the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), in the first quarter of the current year medium and large-sized Chinese steel enterprises incurred an aggregate gross loss of RMB 1.034 billion ($164.13 million), compared to a gross profit of RMB 15.8 billion ($2.5 billion) in the same period of 2011.
The CISA data also indicate that in the first quarter the steel enterprises in question achieved a total industrial production value of RMB 785 billion ($124.6 billion), rising by 0.24 percent year on year, while their sales revenues came to RMB 863.89 billion ($137.13 billion), down 0.95 percent from the corresponding period of last year.