Baoshan Iron and Steel Co. Ltd, listed company of Chinese steel giantBaosteelGroup, has issued its financial report for the first quarter of the current year. Accordingly, in the given quarter its net profit totaled RMB 1.221 billion ($194.47 million), down 60.12 percent year on year, while its operating revenue amounted to RMB 47.419 billion ($7.53 billion), decreasing by 12.22 percent year on year.
According to the company's statement, due to higher costs and greater imbalance between supply and demand, the overall situation in the domestic steel and iron industry is still difficult. In January and February, losses were incurred in the domestic steel industry, but some improvements were witnessed in March. The steelmaker said that in the second quarter the demand for different steel products may diverge, while it predicted that seasonal peak consumption of long steel will likely continue and prices may rise further, potentially driving iron ore prices upward. Demand for flat steel, on the other hand, is expected to remain depressed, posing threats to steel mills, especially those focused on production of flat steel.
In the first quarter of the current year, the steelmaker produced 5.864 million mt of pig iron and 6.365 million mt of finished steel.