Major Chinese steelmaker Baosteel has announced that it registered an operating revenue of RMB 183.655 billion ($26.7 billion) in the first half this year, up 0.2 percent year on year, while it has posted a net profit of RMB 7.791 billion ($1.13 billion), down 48.4 percent year on year.
In the given period, the company’s outputs of pig iron, crude steel and finished steel amounted to 23.101 million mt, 25.223 million mt and 24.09 million mt, up 1.6 percent, down 3.8 percent, and down 4.95 percent, year on year, respectively. The prices of raw materials rose sharply year on year, while the demand from downstream users has been slack, resulting in slower growth in finished steel prices compared to raw material prices, contributing to the decline in the company’s net profit.