China’s biggest listed steelmaker Baoshan Iron & Steel 600019.SS on Wednesday reported a 41.6% fall in net profit in the first half of 2023, after sluggish steel demand reduced revenue while high raw material prices ate into profitability.

The company said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange that it earned 4.55 billion yuan ($624 million) in the first six months of the year, down from 7.79 billion in the same period of 2022.

Baosteel is a subsidiary of state-owned China Baowu Steel Group, the world’s largest steelmaker by output.

The steelmaker’s sales revenue in the first half of the year dropped 7.5% on an annual basis to 169.9 billion yuan. Its shares fell 1.13% to 6.1 yuan a share.

“Domestic steel demand has been gloomy so far this year, and the recovery in demand from sectors including property, automobiles, engineering as well as containers is slower than expected,” Baosteel said in its interim report.

Though prices of steelmaking ingredients including iron ore and coal posted year-on-year declines in the half year, the falling pace of steel product prices exceeded those of raw materials amid sluggish downstream demand.

Steel demand is expected to improve to some degree in the second half of the year thanks to measures introduced to stabilize economic growth, but output will fall due to the implementation of energy consumption and environmental protection-related measures, according to Baosteel.

Overseas steel demand as well as prices have been on the decline, which will affect steel exports, it added.

Baosteel produced 24.27 million metric tons of pig iron and 25.94 million tons of steel from January through June.

China manufactured 535.64 million metric tons of crude steel over the same period, a year-on-year rise of 1.3%, official data showed.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Amy Lv and Dominique Patton in Beijing; Editing by David Holmes) 金属展-冶金展-2024广州巨浪国际金属暨冶金工业展览会-巨浪展览-2024 China(Guangzhou)Int’l Metal &Metallurgy Exhibition 2024金属展，2024金属展会，2024金属展览会，2024广州金属展，2024广州金属展会，2024广东金属展，2024广东金属展会，2024中国金属展，2024中国金属展会，2024金属博览会，2024冶金展，2024冶金展会，2024冶金展览会，2024广州冶金展，2024广州冶金展会，2024广东冶金展，2024广东冶金展会，2024中国冶金展，2024中国冶金展会，2024冶金博览，2024钢铁展，2024钢铁展会，2024钢铁展览会，2024广州钢铁展，2024广州钢铁展会，2024广东钢铁展，2024广东钢铁展会，2024中国钢铁展，2024中国钢铁展会，2024钢铁博览会，2024金属冶金展，2024金属冶金展会，2024金属冶金展览会，2023广州金属冶金展，2024广州金属冶金展会，2024广东金属冶金展，2024广东金属冶金展会，2024中国金属冶金展，2024国金属冶金展会，2024金属冶金博览会-steel Industry Exhibition,steel expo, 2024 steel exhibition, 2024 steel expo, China steel exhibition, China steel expo, steel Industry event,steel event, 2024 steel event, China steel event,metal Industry Exhibition,metal expo, 2024 metal exhibition, 2024 metal expo, China metal exhibition, China metal expo, metal Industry event,metal event, 2024 metal event, China metal event,metallurgy Industry Exhibition,metallurgy expo, 2024 metallurgy exhibition, 2024 metallurgy expo, China metallurgy exhibition, China metallurgy expo, metallurgy Industry event,metallurgy event, 2024 metallurgy event, China metallurgy event