China Minmetals posts record revenue, profits in 2017

BEIJING - China Minmetals Corporation (CMC), the country's largest metals and minerals group, recorded its highest ever revenue and profits in 2017, according to figures released Wednesday at the company's annual work conference.

The corporation raked in 500 billion yuan ($78.9 billion) in revenue last year, up 14 percent from the 2016 level. Meanwhile, total profits jumped 222 percent to 13 billion yuan.

The profit surge was a result of improved market condition and cost-control as well as corporate management transition, the CMC said.

The corporation has witnessed rapid growth after taking over China Metallurgical Group Corporation in late 2015. In 2016, the CMC recorded operating income of 435.5 billion yuan, ranking 120th in the Fortune Global 500 and the first among metal enterprises.

At the end of 2017, the CMC had operations in more than 60 countries and regions overseas, and its total assets stood at 1.6 trillion yuan, the corporation said.

The CMC expects the metal ores market to enter a period of stable growth in the future as metal demand will go up amid positive developments in both the global and domestic markets.