China's 15 key lead and zinc producers witnessed a 91.05 percent profit slump in 2008, according to the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA).
The association said that the 15 key lead and zinc enterprises' annual profit was merely 840 million yuan last year, attributable mainly to the collapsing prices of lead and zinc since the end of 2007.
Their major operating turnover was 65.74 billion yuan in 2008, down 21.94 percent on year while the sales margin rate sank 88.54 percent to 1.28 percent, said CNIA, adding that in the fourth quarter alone, the fifteen metal smelters suffered a total loss of 2.67 billion yuan.
In spite of the gloomy profit results, China launched construction of 480 lead and zinc mining projects, with total investment of 13. 17 billion yuan made in fixed asset investment, up 15.98 percent on year.
According to CNIA, the country is estimated to increase zinc and lead production capacity 400,000-500,000 tons last year, adding the total to more than 4.6 million tons.
Source: iStockAnalyst
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