In the January-October period of this year the aggregate gross profit of the Chinese iron and steel industry amounted to RMB 113.1 billion ($18.1 billion), decreasing by 48.3 percent year on year, according to the data released by China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on December 27. In particular, the aggregate gross profit of China’s ferrous metal mining sector totaled RMB 75.7 billion ($12.1 billion), down 3.3 percent year on year, while the aggregate gross profit of the Chinese iron and steel smelting and processing sector was RMB 32.2 billion ($5.2 billion), down 73.7 percent year on year.
In October alone, the aggregate gross profit of the Chinese iron and steel industry totaled RMB 22.1 billion ($3.5 billion), including RMB 9.8 billion ($1.57 billion) from the mining of ferrous metals and RMB 11.8 billion ($1.9 billion) from smelting and processing of iron and steel.