In January-April of this year, the ferrous metals smelting and rolling sector in China recorded a gross profit of 7.58 billion yuan (1.1 billion US dollars), which is 51.5 percent less than last year, as announced by the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS) on May 27.
The automotive sector recorded a gross profit of 111.87 billion yuan (US$16.4 billion) between January and April of this year. in the first four months, this is 16.8 percent less than last year.
At the same time, the ferrous metals mining and processing sector, the metal production sector, as well as the railway, shipping, aerospace and other transportation equipment recorded gross profits of 15.31 billion yuan (2.2 billion US dollars), 36.97 billion yuan (5.4 billion US dollars) and 41.8 billion yuan (6.1 USD billion) in the period from January to April of this year, which is 22.1 percent more, a decrease of 13.8 percent and an increase of 7.5 percent year-on-year, respectively.
In the first three months of this year, the ferrous metals smelting and rolling sector in China recorded a gross loss of 3.34 billion yuan (0.49 billion US dollars), and gross profit for the first four months was 7.58 billion yuan, indicating on improving the operational performance of the steel industry. However, the ferrous metals smelting and rolling sector in China experienced a 51.5 percent year-on-year decline in the first four months.
This marks the definitive end of the era of the steel industry's windfall profits. Moreover, these are not cyclical fluctuations, but a structural tipping point — falling property prices, the disappearance of export dividends, and rising environmental costs — these three forces combining to put the industry into a prolonged "new normal" of meager profits or even losses.
During this period, the total gross profit of large and medium-sized industrial enterprises in China amounted to 2,43584 yuan. 1 trillion ($0.36 trillion), which is 18.2% more than last year.
