Economy

Markets

Industries

Insights

Reports

Events

Non-ferrous metal industry sees signs of rebound

By Jiang Wei and Li Weitao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-03-19 18:04

China's non-ferrous metal industry is showing some signs of recovery with major companies recording narrower losses, an industry association official said on Thursday.

Related readings:  Profit for non-ferrous metals industry to drop 45% in 2008  China to aid nonferrous metals, logistics sectors  Rio Tinto: China to lead recovery in metals demand  Chalco 2008 profit down over 50% on cost increases

Sixty-nine of the country's leading 73 non-ferrous companies recorded a combined loss of 3.8 billion yuan ($556 million) in the Jan-Feb period, according to Kang Yi, chairman of the China Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA).

The average monthly net loss, or 1.9 billion yuan, is much lower than the loss of 5.9 billion yuan major metal companies recorded in December 2008, Kang said, adding 53 metal companies saw their losses narrow during the first two months of this year.

For the 2008 full year, the industry earned a profit of about 80 billion yuan, down 45 percent compared with 2007, according to the association.