In the January-June period this year, the ferrous metal smelting and rolling sector in China recorded a gross profit of RMB 31.77 billion ($4.7 billion), down 25.0 percent year on year, as announced by China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on July 27.
The automotive sector recorded a gross profit of RMB 195.35 billion ($28.8 billion) in the first six months, down 19.5 percent year on year.
At the same time, the ferrous metals mining and dressing sector, the metal manufacturing sector and the railway, shipping, aerospace and other transportation equipment manufacturing sector recorded gross profits of RMB 25.58 billion ($3.8 billion), RMB 60.51 billion ($8.9 billion) and RMB 73.77 billion ($10.9 billion) in the January-June period this year, up 4.7 percent, down 10.0 percent and up 13.2 percent year on year, respectively.
In June, the operating performance of the ferrous metal smelting and rolling sector indicated an improvement, contributing to the slowdown in the year-on-year decline of 25.0 percent in the first six months, compared to the decrease of 37.4 percent in the first five months. Rebar and wire rod producers incurred significant losses, while the performances of those enterprises focusing on high-end steel plates, special steel and stainless steel were better. Differences in product mix have become a critical factor in determining companies' survival capability.
