China's Metals Smelters Post Turnaround From Loss in Mar-Apr

BEIJING, May 25 -- China's large-scale nonferrous metals smelting enterprises posted net profit of 3.38 billion yuan in March and April, according to China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), a turnaround from loss in previous months.

    An announcement made by MIIT at the weekend says that the price of nonferrous metals has recovered and profitability of the industry has improved. China's cooper smelting enterprises turned losses into gains in March and April of this year, while other metal industries cut losses in the period.

    China's 71 key metals enterprises posted loss of 490 million yuan for the first four months. But they netted profit of 1.73 billion yuan and 1.65 billion yuan in March and April, respectively.

    But steel enterprises still were in the red, as oversupply existed in the domestic steel market. Some 40 percent of the 72 large-and medium-scale steel enterprises in the country incurred losses in the first four months of this year, with net loss totaling 5.18 billion yuan in the period.

    (Source: chinamining.org)