Shanxi Taigang Stainless Steel Co Ltd

First-half earnings forecasts from domestic listed steel companies show a marked widening of industry losses. According to an incomplete tally by Jiemian News, 15 out of 20 listed steelmakers are in the red, accounting for 75 percent. Among them, Angang Steel, Bengang Steel Plates, and Anyang Iron and Steel each reported losses exceeding 1 billion yuan, while Wujin Stainless Steel and Zhongnan Steel, among others, swung from profit to loss. Ge Xin, deputy director of Lange Steel Research Center, noted that the domestic steel market is oversupplied, while iron ore, coking coal, and coke have all stayed at elevated prices, with dual cost pressures continuously eating into steelmakers' profits. Mysteel data from Shanghai Ganglian shows that raw material price increases significantly outpaced steel in the first half, with coking coal prices up 74 percent year on year and coke prices up 57.3 percent. National Bureau of Statistics data shows that profits in ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing totaled 18.17 billion yuan in the first five months, down 42.7 percent year on year. Facing the industry downturn, product mix and resource endowments have become a dividing line. Companies such as Taiyuan Iron and Steel, Jiuquan Iron and Steel, Fushun Special Steel, and Baotou Steel have reduced losses or achieved profits through differentiated business strategies. Ge Xin believes the steel industry has completely bid farewell to the era of scale expansion, and future core competitiveness will focus on high-end product layout, full-process cost control, and upstream mineral resource support. In the short term, the traditional off-season in July and August combined with high raw material prices will limit the room for profit recovery for most steelmakers. In the medium to long term, the commissioning of high-grade iron ore from Simandou in Guinea in the second half of the year and the implementation of domestic policies to ensure coal mine supply and increase production are expected to ease raw material cost pressures.