Dec. 29, 2011 (China Knowledge) - Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Corp or WISCO, one of the leading iron and steel makers in China, expected its profit to grow 17.4% this year from RMB 3 billion in 2010.

The steel maker said in a statement published on its website that its revenue is estimated to increase 14.3% this year from last year's RMB 185 billion.

The group's crude steel output may increase 3% year on year to 37.65 million metric tons this year, and its output of steel products rose 3.7% to 37.36 million metric tons.

Deng Qilin, General Manager of WISCO, the company may turn into loss in 2012 due to the continued shortage of iron ore and high logistics cost.

Deng added that the Chinese steel industry will see severe challenges from 2012 and only gain small profit or even be in loss for quite a long time.