Baosteel shares dropped by 43% last year

Baosteel Co., Ltd. disclosed its annual report on Friday evening. In 2011, it achieved a net profit of RMB 7.362 billion, a decrease of 42.79% year-on-year. It is planned to distribute a cash dividend of RMB 2 for every 10 shares.

The total operating revenue in 2011 was 222.857 billion yuan, an increase of 10.1% over the same period of last year.

The company stated that the prices of major raw materials such as iron ore rose significantly in 2011, with imported ore prices rising by 28.2% year-on-year. The profit margin of the steel industry has been further squeezed. The profit rate of the iron and steel industry is already at the lowest level in the domestic industry. The domestic steel industry has entered the “early profit era”.