China's biggest listed steelmaker Baoshan Iron & Steel on Wednesday reported a 41.6 per cent 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 per cent on an annual basis to 169.9 billion yuan. Its shares fell 1.13 per cent 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.
