About 90 percent of China's steel companies think they fared worse in the first half of 2012 than in the same period a year before, according to 51ifind.com, a provider of financial data.

Of the 21 public steel companies that released earnings estimates over the weekend, 19 said they were pessimistic about their performances in the first half of the year. Ten steel companies said they expected to report losses and nine said their earnings probably decreased.

Only three said they expect to see an increase in earnings.

China's Angang Steel Co Ltd, a Hong Kong-traded producer of the alloy, said it expects to record a net loss of about 1.976 billion yuan ($309 million) for the first half of 2012.

"The company's estimated loss for the six months that ended on June 30, 2012, is primarily the result of a substantial decrease of over 12 percent in the price of steel products in comparison with the same period of the previous year," according to Ansteel's earnings estimate.