Baoshan Iron and Steel Co. (Baosteel) announced a RMB 10.305bn ($1.6bn) net profit for the financial year to December 31 2012.

Baosteel, which is China’s second-largest steelmaker by output, said that net profit for the year was 39.98% higher than the RMB 7.362bn ($1.15bn) in 2011 but attributed the increase in net profit to the asset and equity sell-off of its stainless steel and special steel business divisions which generated RMB 9.58bn ($1.5bn) profit. The full-year operating profit was down some 59.13% y-o-y to RMB 3.612bn ($567M).

The company highlighted oversupply imbalances, much lower product prices and relatively high iron ore cost as major reasons behind the main operating profit plunge.

The main operating revenue of the company was RMB 191.473bn ($30.05bn), down 14.08% y-o-y.

Source: China Metals e-mail [email protected]