China’s largest steelmaking province, Hebei, turned a profit of 12.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year drop of 37% between January and June 2015.

During the period, Hebei’s crude steel output declined 0.31% year-on-year and iron ore output in the province dropped 13.31% but steel products output grew 4.72% and pig iron rose 1.04%.

Exported steel products from Hebei reached 17.5Mt, up nearly 62% and the export value was up 24%.