Sector: Metal and Glass Containers

As China’s construction boom slows, steel mills across the country are scrambling to find ways to bolster profits, and one has hit on an unusual strategy: raising pigs.  The FT reports.

Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan told CNBC on Tuesday that Southeast Asia's largest economy was not adopting protectionist policies and was only following in the footsteps of other developed countries.

Weak domestic demand and high raw material costs may have crimped profits at Chinese steel companies in recent years, but the fundamentals for the industry appear to be improving, according to Daiwa Capital Markets.

India's Tata Steel, the world's No.7 steelmaker, posted an unexpected quarterly loss, its first in more than two years, as higher raw material costs and weak demand in Europe hurt margins.

China's steelmakers have racked up $400 billion in debt, which some may struggle to repay, making them a potential drag on a banking sector already facing rising bad loans from the property sector and local governments.

Asia's top steel mills could report weaker profits for the quarter that ended in December as demand and prices ease and as euro zone debt worries and slowing growth in China and India cast a pall over the outlook for coming quarters.

Baoshan Iron & Steel, China's biggest listed steelmaker, said on Saturday its 2011 net profit fell 43.4 percent to 7.3 billion yuan ($1.2 billion).

The industry is  at a unique point in history, where  economic growth overseas, high energy costs, demand for commodities  and better recovery technologies have converged to swell revenue.