According to the latest financial report issued by China's largest steelmaker Hebei Iron and Steel Group (Hebei Steel), during the July-September period of the current year the net profit of the group was RMB 220 million ($34.7 million), down 29.06 percent year on year.
Meanwhile, during the first nine months of 2011 the group's total net profit declined by just a slight margin of 0.62 percent compared to the first three quarters of 2010, falling to RMB 1.023 billion ($161 million).