Baoshan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. (Baosteel), China’s largest listed steelmaker, kept its major product prices for September delivery steady from August, said the company recently.

The company has kept the prices of main products unchanged for three consecutive months over July-September after reducing June prices for 50-100 yuan/t.

But the company said it will increase prices of electric steel products by 200-300 yuan/t.

Steel prices in China’s domestic market have been relatively stable recently, and Baosteel’s new pricing indicates its caution over the future market, analysts pointed out.

Baosteel will conduct maintenance to one blast furnace in September, so it will not face much supply pressure, sources said.

Chinese steel mills reported better operation results in the first half of the year. Data from China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) showed total profit of large and medium-sized steel enterprises reached 7.48 billion yuan, surging 133.46% from the previous year.

Still, 28.41% of the enterprises posted loss during the same period, down 7.95 percentage points from the year before, and their total profit margin rose 0.23 percentage point on year to 0.41%, said the CISA.

The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for Chinese steel sector rose to 48.6 in July, edging up 0.3 percentage points from June, staying below the 50-point threshold for the third consecutive month, showed data from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.