Wuhan Iron & Steel expects full-year profits to fall by over 50% because of the global financial crisis, Bloomberg reported. The company, China’s third largest steelmaker, would not give figure for its anticipated full-year loss in a statement to Shanghai’s stock exchange, but it revealed that third-quarter profit was down 76% compared to the same period last year, while sales fell 33% to US$2 billion in the third quarter from a year earlier. Profit for the first nine months of 2009 fell by 85%. Steel prices fell from a record set on June 5, 2008 due to the global economic downturn slashed exports and domestic demand, forcing the industry to post seven-straight months of losses.