COSCO's Bulk Shipping Arm Reports Loss of 990 Million Yuan [REPORT]

HONG KONG, Aug 29 (Reuters) – China’s largest bulk shipper, COSCO Holdings Co Ltd , posted on Thursday a first-half net loss of 990 million yuan ($162 million) as a global shipping downturn continued to take a toll, though the loss narrowed from a year earlier.

China COSCO, which is controlled by state-owned China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company, reported a first-half loss of 990 million yuan from a loss of 4.87 billion yuan a year ago.

It had flagged in July that its first-half loss would shrink by 70 to 85 percent from a year earlier, but analysts said that may not be enough to assure a profitable year and the company may sell some of its $1.6 billion in property assets to stay in the black in 2013.

The state-controlled company has posted losses for two consecutive years, and a third year would trigger delisting from the Shanghai stock exchange.

China laid out a detailed three-year plan earlier this month to restructure its massive shipbuilding industry, urging local governments to halt approvals of new projects and companies to move up the value chain by building high-tech vessels.

Shares in COSCO Holdings were down 0.3 percent on Thursday and have fallen by about 10 percent so far this year, compared with a around 4 percent drop in the benchmark Hang Seng Index . ($1 = 6.1202 Chinese yuan) (Reporting By Yimou Lee and Christina Lo; Editing by Lee Chyen Yee)