Liaoning Province-based Chinese steelmaker Angang Steel Co. (Ansteel), the listed company of Angang Group, has issued its preliminary financial report for the first nine months of the current year, forecasting that its net profit will decrease by 23.05 percent year on year to RMB 1.325 billion ($0.2 billion). In particular, in the third quarter this year, its net profit will amount to RMB 825 million ($122.4 million), rising by 177.78 percent year on year.
The company said the impact of Covid-19 in the first half of the current year caused a slackening of demand for steel, resulting in a year-on-year decline of 64.91 percent in its net profit for the first half this year. With the effective control of the Covid-19 pandemic, the steel market saw a gradual improvement in the third quarter this year, which contributed to the big rise in net profit in the given period.