Most domestic steelmakers are seeing an improvement in their third-quarter performance.

Fifteen of the 20 listed steel companies that issued third quarter reports made profits, as opposed to last year, when up to 90 percent of the steel mills posted a loss.

Baoshan Iron and Steel Co Ltd, or Baosteel, the nation's largest listed steelmaker, said its net profit for the first three quarters tumbled by 56.99 percent year-on-year to 4.64 billion yuan ($761.6 million), but excluding the proceeds from selling stainless steel and special steel assets during the same period last year, the Shanghai-listed steelmaker said its profit was actually 2.28 billion yuan more than a year earlier.