Metallurgical Industry Tries Confidently to Get Rid of Predicament in Three Years ����This is the first commentary by Our Staff Reporter Jiang Shijie on the metallurgical industry's effort to turn deficit into profit. The commentary says: "Most large and medium-sized loss-making state-owned enterprises should be helped out of their predicament in three years", this is a call raised by the 15th National Congress, and the First Plenary Session of the 15th Central Committee, of the Communist Party of China (CPC). ����Judged from the practice of the metallurgical industry in turning deficits into profits, it can be seen that so long as various social sectors unify thinking, reinforce confidence, concert efforts and work in a down-to-earth manner, they can certainly achieve the goal of getting rid of predicament in three years. Following is the situation emerged in the last few years with regard to key Chinese iron and steel enterprises operating at a loss. In 1993, the country had 75 key iron and steel enterprises making profits, with the gross profits of the metallurgical industry reaching 29.4 billion yuan. In 1994-94, however, the profit level of the industry saw a sharp drop, with the number of losing enterprises and the gross amount of losses being on the increase. At the end of 1997, of the country's 75 key iron and steel enterprises, 13 incurred losses worth more than 50 million yuan each, with the total amount of loss reaching 3.2 billion yuan, 47.6 percent of the industry's total losses. ����Thanks to the joint efforts of various sectors, marked results have been made in reducing loss and increasing gain, the total amount of loss of the 13 losing enterprises had fallen to 800 million yuan. And eight enterprises had removed their label of losing businesses ����The key to realizing the goal of getting rid of predicament in three years lies primarily in unifying thinking and reinforcing confidence. This has been proved by the enterprises which have turned deficits into profits. ����The practice of the metallurgical industry in turning deficits into profits has enabled us to see the hope and strengthened confidence of large and medium-sized loss-making state-owned enterprises to shake off predicament in three years. HomeNews 1999-01-29 Page1 Full Story in Chinese