Chinese metallurgists lost $ 2.7 billion in January-May - CISA

A senior official from the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) said that major Chinese steelmaker losses in core businesses more than doubled in the first five months from a year earlier, as falling steel prices displaced producers “in red zone ".

Among the CISA participants representing 101 large plants, 40 suffered losses in the steel business in January-May in the amount of 16.48 billion yuan, or 2.65 billion US dollars. The loss was RMB 10.36 billion more than in the same period last year. CISA Chairman Zhang Guangning said, “It is clear that the apparent consumption of crude steel in China has peaked and strong demand growth is history.” it will be difficult for them to survive. "

In January-May, metallurgists, members of the CISA, collected 1.3 trillion. yuan revenue, down 16.9 percent year on year. 39.6 percent of the total surveyed steel mills suffered losses during this period. CISA data showed that in the first five months of the year, steel mills in the top ten in terms of profits earned 12.3 billion yuan, up 130 percent year on year, while the top ten steel mills are in the red. had losses of 11.6 billion yuan, up 71 percent year on year.

Prices for Chinese steel products in the domestic market are at the lowest level in the last 20 years. The slowdown in economic growth is hitting demand for a range of commodities, including iron ore, steel and copper, threatening the survival of small smelters. The world's largest producer's apparent crude steel consumption declined 5.1 percent in the first five months from a year earlier, but up 3.3 percent from 2013. At the same time, total steel production fell by only 1.6 percent year on year, but this indicates a decline in output for the first time in nearly 20 years.