Baoshan Iron and Steel (Baosteel), China’s largest listed steel producer, is expected to produce 25.25Mt of crude steel in 2012, down 5.2% year on year from the 26. 64Mt in 2011, said Ma Guoqiang, general manager of Baosteel on April 10.
The decline was attributed to the exclusion of stainless and special steels in the figures from the second quarter as the company sold its stainless and special steel assets to its parent, the Baosteel Group, the second-largest steelmaker by output, Ma noted.
Ma stressed that Baosteel would concentrate on developing carbon steel products in the future and aims to become a competitive carbon steel production in China.
Discussing recent losses by China’s steel mills, Ma was bullish about the domestic demand for steels in the second half when the monetary policy will be relaxed and liquidity improved. Even so, the situation would still not be strong for the steel industry due to overcapacity and the high cost of raw materials.
Baosteel saw its operating revenues at RMB 222.86bn (US$35.4bn), up 10.1% year on year and operating costs were RMB 203.04bn ($32.26), up 15.8% year on year in 2011, while its total profits went down 45.7% year on year to RMB 9.26bn ($1.47bn). Baosteel’s net profit for 2011 dropped 43% year on year to RMB 7.36bn ($1.169bn) due to the weakening demand from the domestic construction sector and automobile manufacturing industry.
Source: China Metals e-mail [email protected]