Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region-based Chinese steelmaker Liuzhou Iron and Steel Group (Liuzhou Steel Group) has for the first half of the current year announced an operating revenue of RMB 22.878 billion ($3.25 billion), increasing by 1.3 percent year on year, and a net profit of RMB 1.265 billion ($0.18 billion), down 38 percent year on year. The financial results of the company have been depressed by the increase in raw materials costs, in costs of iron ore in particular. At the same time, production and sales volumes increased.
According to the report, in the first half of the year the outputs of the company's main products all increased, with production of 61.018 million metric tons of pig iron, 64.955 million metric tons of crude steel and 39.073 million metric tons of finished steel products, rising by 2.61 percent, 1.98 percent and 4.81 percent year on year, respectively.