It is reported that Mr Fu Zhongzhe GM of BaoSteel told a conference call that Baosteel has an action plan to turn round the net loss it made in its stainless steel operations last year. He said that “BaoSteel will strive to further enhance its overall profitability by improving product structure and quality in the stainless steel business.

Ms Chen Ying director finance of Baosteel added that it benefited from a remarkable 30% YoY profit increase in the carbon steel sector. She said “We will get help from the financial market when possible for our technology development as well as the expansion projects. The company plans to issue CNY10 billion convertible bonds this year.”

The conference call came after China’s biggest steelmaker released its 2007 results, which showed a 2.75% decrease in its net profit to CNY 12.7billion last year, compared with 2006, though sales revenue rose by 18% to CNY 192 billion. Operating income was little changed at CNY 19.3billion. Baosteel produced 21.6million tons of pig iron and 23.8million tons of crude steel last year up by 7.8% and 9.4%, respectively.