Iron and steel industry posts rising revenue, but plummeting profit

China's iron and steel industry reported business revenue growth of 10.5 percent year on year in the first quarter, data showed.

In the first three months of the year, business revenue reached 1.91 trillion yuan (about 281.25 billion U.S. dollars), according to a statement by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The industry, however, saw a decrease of 36.7 percent in profit to hit 54.86 billion yuan in the period.

Crude steel output grew 9.9 percent to 231 million tonnes, while production of steel products topped 269 billion tonnes, a 10.8-percent rise from the same period last year.

Steel exports saw a notable 12.6-percent increase to reach 17.03 million tonnes, whereas imports fell 16.1 percent to about 2.9 million tonnes.