On December 30, Du Shuanghua, chairman of Shandong Province-based Chinese steelmaker Rizhao Iron and Steel (Rizhao Steel), confirmed at the company's 2010 annual general meeting that it continues to negotiate with Shandong Iron and Steel Group Corporation Ltd. (Shangdong Steel) regarding the planned restructuring between the two companies. Accordingly, he said, it is expected that Shandong Steel will complete its restructuring of Rizhao Steel by February 2011.
Mr. Du also disclosed that Rizhao Steel realized sales revenues of RMB 45.3 billion ($6.84 billion) in the whole of 2010, compared to RMB 36 billion ($5.43 billion) in 2009, with its net profit equal to 10 percent of its total sales revenues or RMB 4.5 billion ($680 million), with this percentage higher than the average level in the domestic steel industry.
In 2010 Rizhao Steel produced 12.36 million mt of crude steel, compared to 12 million mt of crude steel in 2009, while its output of finished steel products totaled 12.1 million mt in 2010.