Zhejiang Province-based Chinese steelmaker Hangzhou Iron and Steel has announced that on December 22 it shut down its main production base at Banshan, reflecting the situation of shrinking demand, soaring losses and tighter credit affecting the whole steel industry in China.
In the January-September period of this year, Hangzhou Iron and Steel produced 1.9731 million mt of pig iron, 2.3934 million mt of crude steel and 1.7693 million mt of finished steel. In the given period, Hangzhou Steel registered an operating revenue of RMB 7.291 billion ($1.16 billion), with a net loss of RMB 409 million ($64.92 million), with the Banshan production base contributing 99.53 percent of the total operating revenue.