On October 20, Chinese steelmakers Laiwu Steel and Baotou Steel released their financial reports for the third quarter of this year. After registering net losses of RMB 598 million ($87.54 million) and RMB 748 million ($109.49 million) respectively during the first half of 2009, these two mills posted strong improvements in their business results in the third quarter, with their respective net profits both exceeding RMB 400 million.
In the July-September period, Baotou Steel announced sales revenues of RMB 7.5 billion ($1.1 billion) and a net profit of RMB 418 million ($61.18 million). As a result, Baotou Steel's net loss for the first three quarters of the current year has decreased to RMB 329 million ($48.18 million).
Meanwhile, Laiwu Steel posted a net profit of RMB 426 million ($62.39 million) during the third quarter, with its sales revenues for the quarter totaling RMB 7.8 billion ($1.14 billion). Thus, Laiwu Steel's net loss for the January-September period has declined to below RMB 172 million ($25.19 million).