BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s biggest listed steelmaker, Baoshan Iron & Steel Co, on Friday reported a 26.4% annual increase in its first-quarter net profit thanks to lower costs, but flagged persistent risks from rising trade tensions.
The company, known as Baosteel, said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange that it earned about 2.43 billion yuan ($333.43 million) in the past quarter, up from 1.93 billion yuan over the same period in 2024.
“Despite the challenges of weak demand and falling steel prices, the company managed to lower costs thanks to a more drastic fall in coking coal prices than steel,” Baosteel said.
Steel prices slid 9.9% last quarter while coking coal tumbled by 36.1%, it added.
Baosteel also recorded in a separate filing an annual fall of 38.4% in its net profit in 2024 to 7.36 billion yuan.
Baosteel is a subsidiary of the state-owned China Baowu Steel Group, the world’s largest steelmaker by output.
The company manufactured 11.55 million metric tons of iron and 12.85 million tons of steel between January and March and plans to produce 48.79 million and 52.61 million tons of iron and steel in 2025, respectively.
It received 1.55 million tons of overseas orders for steel products last quarter after having shipped abroad a record high of 6.07 million tons of steel products in 2024, representing a rise of 3.9% year-on-year.
“In 2025, the external environment will become more complex and uncertain and the risks of trade tensions will remain prominent … profitability will face persistent downward pressure from the mismatch between supply and demand,” the company said.
($1 = 7.2878 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Amy Lv and Lewis JacksonEditing by Mark Potter)
