China Minmetals Corporation (CMC), the country's largest metals and minerals trading company, gained 17.78 billion U.S. dollars in business volume in 2005, up 18.37 percent year on year or an all time high, according to CMC President Zhou Zhongshu.

"CMC's profit also rose considerably, though the final figure is not yet available," Zhou said at the company's annual working meeting held here Wednesday.

The ratio of profits gained by its proprietary enterprises rose from 34 percent in 2004 to 47 percent in 2005.

In 2005, CMC carried out a number of merger and acquisition projects in both overseas and domestic metals and minerals markets, including a copper cooperation project in Chile, an aluminum bauxite development project in Jamaica, and a coal mining project in northwest China's Qinghai Province.

After six years of high-speed development, Zhou said, CMC has significantly improved its financial conditions and increased its assets. Up to the end of 2005, the company's total assets stood at 52.6 billion yuan (about 6.49 billion US dollars), up 15 percent over the previous year.

Source: Xinhua