China’s Ansteel suffered a loss of almost $1 billion in 2024

Angang Steel (Ansteel), a listed unit of Anshan Iron and Steel Group, the second largest steel producer in China, suffered a loss of almost $1 billion in 2024. Bloomberg reports with reference to the company’s stock exchange report.

The company’s annual net loss more than doubled last year to 7.1 billion yuan ($981 million) from 3.3 billion yuan in 2023. According to the company, the steel industry faced further weakening market conditions last year. Steel prices fell amid weak downstream demand, while iron ore prices remained high.

China’s steel sector was in the red for most of 2024, with a record number of companies suffering losses. Industrial earnings data for the first two months of 2025 show that conditions remain gloomy, as new growth drivers are not enough to replace the decline in construction activity. The main risk for Chinese steelmakers this year is rising protectionism – steel tariffs imposed by other countries could reduce Chinese exports.

However, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Michelle Leung believes that Angang could reduce its losses in 2025 if steel prices recover amid an improvement in the domestic production balance.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in January-February this year, the country’s steel industry suffered a loss of 1.55 billion yuan ($213 billion). In January-February 2024, this figure was 14.61 billion yuan.

As GMK Center reported earlier, in January-February 2025, China’s steel industry reduced steel production by 1.5% compared to the same period in 2024, to 166.3 million tons. The decline in production was contrary to the expectations of some analysts who predicted growth, citing higher exports.