According to the Shanghai stock exchange, Baoshan Iron & Steel, the listed unit of China’s biggest steel maker, has reported that its 2009 net profit fell 11 percent.

The subsidiary of Baosteel Group Corp said in a brief statement on the stock exchange’s website that its net profit in 2009 dropped to 5.8 billion yuan (850 million dollars) compared with 6.5 billion yuan the previous year.

The steelmaker gave no reasons for the drop.

Revenue also fell 26 percent to 148.5 billion yuan from 200.6 billion a year earlier, the company said in the statement posted Saturday.

Baoshan Iron had said earlier last year that it expected its revenue to drop in 2009.

China’s steel industry has suffered from the global financial crisis, which has impacted on demand for steel both domestically and abroad.

According to statistics released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology yesterday, China’s steel industry realized profits of RMB 143.3 billion in the first 11 months of last year.

The country’s major steel mills earned a combined profit of RMB 44.8 billion in the period, 67% less than in the same period of the previous year, said the ministry.

In 2009, the country eliminated 21.2 million tons of outdated iron smelting capacity and 16.9 million tons of steel smelting capacity.

In the period from January to November last year, the country’s steel output rose 12.1% year on year to 520 million tons, the total output last year is expected to reach 565 million tons.

It is reported that China (its major ports), the world’s biggest iron ore buyer unloaded 35 percent more of the steelmaking ingredient last month from a year ago.

Ships unloaded 56.5 million metric tons of iron ore in July at major ports, the Ministry of Transport said on its Web site. The ministry didn’t provide comparative figures.

Crude steel output in China jumped to a record in the first half and cash iron ore prices have gained 33 percent this year as a $585 billion stimulus by the government improves building demand and auto purchases. The China Iron & Steel Association has blamed traders for the rising imports, which have hurt its ability to negotiate for lower contract prices.

“The increase in iron ore imports in July was partly boosted by small steelmakers buying ore at lower spot prices,” said Roslyn Ji, an analyst at Core Pacific-Yamaichi International Holding in Beijing.

Spot iron ore prices traded at $95.30 a ton yesterday according to the Steel Index. They averaged $83.436 a ton in July. Chinese steelmakers are stalled in talks to agree on benchmark contract prices with suppliers Rio Tinto Group, BHP Billiton Ltd. and Vale SA. The mills buy ore from mines in Australia, Brazil and India.

Record ImportsIron ore imports hit a record 57 million tons in April, according to general customs. Imports by traders accounted for 44 percent of purchases in the first half, the steel association said last week, compared with 30 percent a year earlier.

“In the second half, China may cut its reliance on imports because higher prices may prompt mills to use domestic ore,” said Umetal Research Institute analyst Du Wei.

Container volumes handled by major Chinese ports fell 3.8 percent to 10.1 million 20-foot standard containers, the transport ministry also said today. That’s the lowest level of decline this year.

“China container traffic, relying mostly on exports to the U.S. and Europe, still needs time for a full recovery,” said Core Pacific-Yamaichi’s Ji.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Aug. 2 that U.S. economic growth may resume at a rate faster than most economists forecast.

It is also said from the ministry that total cargo volumes at the ports rose 13 percent to 500 million metric tons in July from a year ago.

It is reported on Monday that Chinese steel mills’ profit in July is expected to exceed 20 billion yuan (2.93 billion U.S. dollars), as the monthly growth of steel prices rose to an eight-year high.

Steel prices jumped in July, prompting profit in steel enterprises to expand, according to Xu Xiangchun, chief analyst with industry information provider MySteel.com.

The benchmark index of MySteel.com. for domestic steel prices rose 11.9 percent in the month.

Net profits in hot-rolled coil and cold-rolled coil are estimated to stand at 600 yuan and 1,400 yuan per tonne, as their prices gained by 376 yuan and 473 yuan per tonne in July, respectively, said Xu.

Full-year profit of China’s steel makers will reach 100 billion yuan if steel price remains stable in the second half, said Xu.

A revival in demand and the government’s continuous economic stimulus will help stabilize the steel prices, said Qi Xiangdong, vice secretary-general of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).

Profit in China’s 71 major steel enterprises totalled 3.55 billion yuan in June, expanding from May when they turned profitable after seven-month losses.

According to the CISA, The aggregate net profit of China’s major steel producers fell 43 percent to 84.6 billion yuan last year on weak demand amid the global financial crises.

It is reported from the China Iron and Steel Association last friday that China’s major steel makers gained net profits of 6.3 billion yuan in June, which helped reverse the trend of losses for the first half of this year.

During the first half of 2009, net profits of these steel makers totaled 1.73 billion yuan.

The association said in a report that China’s steel industry is still in recession. Among the 71 mid- and large-sized steel enterprises, 25 suffered losses during the year’s first half.

It is predicted that crude steel output will hit 660 million tons for the full year of 2009, while consumption is expected to reach 453 million tons.

This compared with a combined profit of 1.04 billion yuan in the 71 large and medium-sized steel mills in May. Their aggregate profit totalled 1.73 billion yuan in the first half this year, said the latest statistics released by the China Iron and Steel Association this week.

Eight of the 71 companies were still losing money last month, compared with 20 in May.

Steel prices rose “at a stunning rate”, said Xu Xiangchun, analyst of Shanghai Ganglian E-commerce Co., Ltd., an IT service company specializing in collecting steel information.

The price increase of major steel producers was the main reason for climbing market prices as there were no statistics indicating a surge in demand or supply shortage, Xu said.

Some 46 steel companies had raised prices this month as of Wednesday, according to statistics of the Umetal.com, an industry service provider.

The price of cold rolled coil in the Beijing market has soared by 500 yuan per tonne since July, and hot rolled coil by 340 yuan, according to the statistics from the IT service company.

The per-tonne prices of medium plates and screw steel also saw an increase of 250 yuan and 600 yuan respectively.

Share prices of Baosteel, the country’s largest steel maker, gained 3.43 percent to 9.35 yuan as of 2:05 p.m. Thursday. Angang Steel Company Ltd. surged 4.37 percent to 17.2 yuan.