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Xinhua reported that it might sound ridiculous for a steelmaker to raise pigs, but Chinese steelmaking firms are showing unprecedented interest in non-steel businesses to cope with the challenge of low profits amid a downturn.Non-steel business turnover of China's seven largest steelmakers with annual capacity of over 20 million tons accounted for 23 percent of the companies' total revenues in the first half of the year. The figure was revealed at a conference on non-steel businesses of the Chinese iron and steel industry, held in Beijing at the end of August.Mr Zhang Changfu deputy director of the China Iron and Steel Association told the conference that "Chinese steelmakers have been forced to upgrade their businesses and extend their portfolios at a time when the industry features high capacity and cost but low price and efficiency, while the environmental protection requirement upon them is getting tougher.'CISA figures showed that combined sales revenue of 86 member enterprises of the association totaled CNY 1.8 trillion (USD 290 billion) in the first half of the year, up only 0.94% from the same period in 2012. The companies' gains totaled CNY 2.27 billionwith a profit margin of 0.13%.