Shandong Province-based Chinese steelmaker Shandong Iron and Steel Co. has announced its financial results for the first half of the current year.
Accordingly, in the first half this year Shandong Steel's operating revenue amounted to RMB 36.714 billion ($5.99 billion), down 8.77 percent year on year. Meanwhile, the company registered a net loss of RMB 191 million ($31.2 million) in the given period, compared to a net loss of RMB 969 million in the same period of 2012.
In the first six months this year, Shandong Steel produced 5.3914 million mt of pig iron, 5.7978 million mt of crude steel and 5.6113 million mt of finished steel, respectively equivalent to 45.42 percent, 47.25 percent and 46.22 percent of the targeted output volumes for the full year.
Shandong Steel stated that it has been hard for steel mills to make a profit due to lower steel prices and higher iron ore prices.