About two thirds of China's major steel mills were in the red in November, suffering from high prices in raw materials and the decreasing prices of steel products.

Forty-eight out of 71 large and medium-sized domestic steelmakers saw a loss in November (six more than in October), with total losses for the month in the neighborhood of 12.77 billion yuan, China Securities Journal reported yesterday citing anonymous sources.

Analysts largely contributed the loss to high iron ore prices and dropping steel prices, and they remained pessimistic for the mills' performance in December.