China steel industry sees profits up 39 pct

BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- China's steel industry reported profits of 470.4 billion yuan (around 69.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, an increase of 39.3 percent year on year.

Crude steel output grew 6.6 percent to 928.26 million tons, whereas steel production hit 1.1 billion tons, up 8.5 percent year on year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

Steel exports dipped 8.1 percent to reach 69.34 million tons, while imports slid 1 percent to hit 13.17 million tons. Coke exports jumped 20.8 percent year-on-year to 9.75 million tons.

The steel industry is likely to maintain reasonable profit margins this year, as industry overcapacity has largely eased over the past three years.