Baoshan Profit Drops on Slowing Demand From Automakers

Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., China’s biggest publicly traded steelmaker, said first-half profit dropped 37 percent because of slowing demand from automakers and rising prices of iron ore and coal.

Net income fell to 5.1 billion yuan ($799 million), or 0.29 yuan a share, in the six months ended June 30 from 8.05 billion yuan, or 0.46 yuan, a year earlier, the Shanghai-based company said today in a statement. That trailed the 6.06 billion yuan average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.