Briefly

Steel mills see profits drop in first 8 months

Major steel companies in China saw their profitability drop during the first eight months of this year, according to latest data. During the January-August period, profits of the country's major steel mills reached 109.64 billion yuan ($16.1 billion), down by 18.6 percent on a yearly basis, narrowing 10 percentage points from the first seven months, according to data from the China Iron and Steel Association. Sales revenue of the enterprises grew by 5.8 percent on a yearly basis to 2.9 trillion yuan, according to the data. Steel exports fell during the period, down by 18.6 percent year-on-year to 36.56 million metric tons. Imports jumped by 59.6 percent to 12.19 million tons.

Outsourcing industry to post steady growth

The service outsourcing industry reported stable growth during the first eight months of this year, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Chinese firms inked service outsourcing contracts worth 850.39 billion yuan ($124.87 billion) in the January-August period, up 8.2 percent on a yearly basis. The executed contract value stood at 586.71 billion yuan in the first eight months, representing a year-on-year increase of 12.5 percent. Of the total, the value of offshore service outsourcing contracts reached 506.67 billion yuan during the period, up 6.8 percent on a yearly basis.

Xinhua