Jun. 8, 2012 (China Knowledge) - Anhui Conch Cement Co Ltd<600585><0914>, the biggest cement producer in Asia by output, said yesterday that it expected its net profit for the first half of this year to fall at least 50% from the same period of 2011.

The company said in a statement that the significant drop in net profit was due to a sharp decline in cement prices caused by weaker demand amid slowing fixed-asset investment in China.

In the first half of last year, the cement producer's net profit was RMB 5.99 billion.

The company's net profit dropped 43.64% YoY to RMB 1.25 billion in the first quarter of this year, due to falling cement prices and rising production costs.

Official statistics showed that the average ex-factory price at major cement enterprises in April dropped RMB 0.4 per metric ton from March or RMB 15.3 per metric ton from a year earlier to RMB 363 per metric ton.