August 31 -- Pangang Group Steel Vanadium and Titanium (Pangang) (000629) filed its net profit declined 70 percent to 175 million yuan in the first half for EPS of 0.03 yuan, despite revenue growth of 14.34 percent to 23.78 billion yuan, reports yicia.com. Percentage changes cited in this report are year-on-year.

The company’s iron production slipped 0.04 percent to 3.79 million tons in the first half. Steel production grew 0.21 percent to 3.74 million tons while steel product output was down 2.04 percent to 3.38 million tons. Vanadium product output decreased 6.01 percent to 10,100 tons while production of iron concentrate containing vanadium-titanium grew 5.54 percent to 4.01 million tons.

Pangang estimates China’s steel market will remain volatile for the remainder of the year. The Panzhihua-based company plans to produce 3.88 million tons of steel, 1.47 million tons of hot-rolled sheet, 560,000 tons of cold-rolled, 465,000 tons of heavy rails, 540,000 tons of seamless steel tube, 10,200 tons of vanadium products, 261,600 tons of titanium concentrate,  30,300 tons of titanium pigment, and 52,900 tons of high titanium slag.

The firm also plans to invest 655.84 million yuan on a sintering system upgrade, 408.57 million yuan on a subsidiary’s titanium selection program, and 660.82 million yuan on its parent group’s transport system upgrading programs.