On August 14, Liaoning Province-based Chinese steelmaker Lingyuan Iron and Steel Co. issued its results for the first half of the current year.
Accordingly, in the first half of the year Lingyuan Steel achieved an operating revenue of RMB 6.606 billion ($1.04 billion), down 13.29 percent year on year. Meanwhile, the steel producer recorded a net loss of RMB 232 million ($36.6 million) for the given period, as compared to a net profit of RMB 262 million ($41.3 million) in the first half of 2011.
In the January-June period of this year, Lingyuan Steel produced 1,705,800 mt of crude steel, 1,507,900 mt of pig iron and 1,727,300 mt of finished steel, down 1.95 percent, 2.03 percent and 2.78 percent respectively, all on year-on-year basis.
Commenting on its results, Lingyuan Steel stated that in the first half of this year its profits were negatively impacted by increasing production costs due to high prices of raw materials and sharp decreases in steel sales prices amid the sluggishness of the steel market. The steel producer added that, considering the difficult steel market conditions in the third quarter, it is still too soon to determine whether it will be able to achieve a net profit for the second half of the current year.