On October 29, Anhui Province-based Chinese steelmaker Maanshan Iron and Steel Co. (Masteel) announced that in the first three quarters of the current year its operating revenue amounted to RMB 56.392 billion ($9.245 billion), down 5.93 percent year on year, while it recorded a net loss of RMB 329 million ($53.93 million), down sharply from the net loss of RMB 3.138 billion ($514 million) registered in the same period last year.
In the third quarter of the current year, the company and its subsidiaries produced 4.76 million mt of pig iron, 4.90 million mt of crude steel, and 4.68 million mt of finished steel, up 7.94 percent, 11.87 percent and 13.87 percent year on year, respectively.
According to Masteel, it is thought that in the fourth quarter of the current year the raw materials and steel markets will likely continue their weak trends, and the company is unlikely to see as large a loss as it incurred in the same quarter last year. As a result, the company's net loss for the whole of 2013 is expected to show a substantial year-on-year reduction.