Inner Mongolia BaoTou Steel Union Co<600010> announced that its net profit dropped 47.3% from a year earlier to RMB 920 million in 2008.

The company earned operating revenue of RMB 44.12 billion in 2008, indicating a year-on-year growth of 64.81%, according to the company's annual report.

The company attributed the net profit decline to the surge in production costs in the first half of 2008 and the increase of product stocks amid the financial crisis in the second half of last year.

BaoTou Steel produced 9.54 million tons of pig iron and 9.82 tons of crude steel in 2008, and exported 787,000 tons of steel.

The company's target sales revenue for this year is RMB 43 billion.