Yang did not disclose whether the company will cut down on production in order to prevent losses due to soaring production costs.

Nanjing Iron & Steel United is the parent company of Nanjing Iron and Steel , with a 62.69 percent stake in the latter as of end March.

According to statistics compiled by China Steel Association, 77 mid and large-scale steelmakers recorded profits of 33.9 billion yuan in the first four months of the year. 

In the corresponding period a year ago, these steelmakers recorded losses of 4.1 billion yuan. 

The CIF (cost, insurance, freight) cost of iron ore in the first four months rose 26.1 percent year-on-year.

Luo Bingsheng, vice chairman of the China Steel Association, predicts that production cost will rise further from the first quarter of 2010.

The share price of Nanjing Iron and Steel was down 2.7 percent to close at 3.97 yuan today.

Sourced from www.capitalvue.com