China's steel demand is expected to remain weak in the second half. This puts further pressure on steel mills struggling to control the red ink.

Industry figures show that 86 steelmakers made a total loss of 669 million yuan, or $109 million in June. That's the first loss for the entire industry this year.

What's worse--are the steelmakers' balance sheets. Debt-to-asset ratio hit almost 70 percent in the first five months of this year, up 1.4 percentage points compared with last year.

China's steel industry has been ordered to cut outdated capacity by the end of the year.