Half of Steel Giant's Profits Come from Non-Steel BusinessesThe Shougang Group, has turned in over half of its income from its non-steel businesses for the first time in its history.The sales volume of non-steel businesses run by the Group reached 1.574 billion yuan (about 190 million U.S. dollars) in August, which was 51.07 percent of the Group's total monthly income. The Beijing-based industrial giant, also known as Capital Iron and Steel Group, has been shifting from the traditional metallurgical industry to the high-tech-led industry over the past few years. Shougang cashed in 23.423 billion yuan (2.82 billion U.S. dollars) during the first eight months of this year and 49.97 percent was from non-steel businesses. The sales volume of Shougang's high-tech industries is expected to hit 2.8 billion yuan, up 50 percent from last year. Luo Bingsheng, the board chairman, said that Shougang will gradually increase its investment in high-tech industries. Shougang planned to become an important production base of micro-electronics and chips in China. By the year 2010, high-tech products will become the new pillar products of Shougang with a sales volume of 50 billion yuan, over half of the Group's total output value, Luo said. Shijingshan Iron and Steel Plant, the predecessor of Shougang, was founded in 1919. Shougang is now a large company with more than 100 subsidiaries. |
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