Guangxi Province-based Chinese steelmaker Liuzhou Iron and Steel Co. has announced that in the first half of the current year its operating revenue amounted to RMB 18.154 billion ($3 billion), down 3.62 percent year on year. Meanwhile, the steel producer recorded a net loss of RMB 83.896 million ($13.71 million) in the given period, compared to a net profit of RMB 1.79 million ($292,483) in the corresponding period of the previous year. Higher costs and lower steel prices were the main factors which contributed to the loss.
In addition, in the first half of the year Liuzhou Steel's outputs of pig iron, crude steel and finished steel amounted to 5.19 million mt, 5.36 million mt and 2.54 million mt, up 14.7 percent, increasing by 15.03 percent, and down 1.28 percent, year on year, respectively.