Quarterly Revenue Increases 36% Year-over-Year to $20.4 Million with Growth Across All Core Business Segments;

New Fracture Proppant Facility Started Trial Production, Expected to Double Annual In-house Fracture Proppant Manufacturing Capacity

GONGYI, China, Aug.15, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- China GengSheng Minerals, Inc. (NYSE Amex: CHGS), a leading China-based high-tech industrial materials manufacturer producing heat resistant, energy efficient materials for a variety of industrial applications, today announced its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011.

Second Quarter 2011 Financial Highlights:

Revenue increased 36.3% year-over-year to $20.4 million.

Fracture proppant sales totaled $5.9 million, an increase of 90% year-over-year, compared with $3.1 million in the second quarter of 2010.

Refractories sales were $12.5 million, an increase of 11% year-over-year, compared with $11.3 million in the second quarter of 2010.

Sales of the Company's fine precision abrasives products, which commenced in the third quarter of 2010, totaled $1.5 million, compared with $0.8 million in the first quarter of 2011.

Gross profit increased 8.5% to $5.3 million, or 26.1% of total sales, compared with $4.9 million, or32.8% of total sales in the same period a year ago.

Operating income totaled $799,000, compared with $1.4 million in the second quarter of 2010.

Net loss attributable to the Company's common stockholders was $(247,000), or $(0.01) per fully diluted share, compared with net income of $1.0 million, or $0.04 per fully diluted share in the second quarter of 2010.

As of June 30, 2011, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $9.5 million, stockholders' equity of $60.0 million and working capital of $21.0 million.

First Half 2011 Financial Highlights:

Revenue increased 36.4% year-over-year to $36.6 million.

Fracture proppant sales totaled $11.1 million, an increase of 158% year-over-year, compared with $4.3 million in the first half of 2010.

Refractories sales were $22.5 million, an increase of 4% year-over-year, compared with $21.7 million in the first half of 2010.

Fine precision abrasives products generated sales totaling$2.3 million during the first six months of 2011.

Gross profit increased 8.2% to $9.6 million, or 26.3% of total sales, compared with $8.9 million, or33.1% of total sales in the same period a year ago.

Operating income totaled $1.5 million, compared with $2.2 million in the first half of 2010.

Net loss attributable to the Company's common stockholders was $(327,000), or $(0.01) per fully diluted share, compared with net income of $1.4 million, or $0.06 per fully diluted share in the first half of 2010.

Second Quarter 2011 and Recent Business Highlights

Began test production at the Company's new fracture proppant manufacturing facility, Henan Yuxing Proppant Co., Ltd., which was opened in July 2011. Once production at this facility reaches designed capacity, annual fracture proppant manufacturing capacity is expected to reach 150,000 metric tons, including both internal and OEM capacity.

Signed five-year strategic partnership agreement with a North American fracture proppants distributor to develop and market GengSheng's fracture proppant products in North America through the establishment of a jointly owned brand.

Awarded approximately $30 million in fracture proppant export contracts through August 14, 2011.

Acquired minority interest in YiliYiqiang Silicon Company ("Yili"), a producer of Green Silicon Carbide ("Green SiC") to improve raw materials sourcing capabilities for fine precision abrasives products.

In July 2011, increased fine precision abrasives output to 600 metric tons per month through equipment upgrades and improved production efficiency.

Appointed Mr. Ningfang Liang as Chief Financial Officer to improve communication, financial controls and transparency.

"We achieved top-line growth across each of our three primary business segments for the second quarter, sales of our refractory products increased on a year-over-year basis for the first time in several quarters, and we achieved record quarterly sales of $5.9 million in our fracture proppant business," said Mr. Shunqing Zhang, China GengSheng's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Although our bottom line weighted by increased operating expenses and finance costs, incurred to support business expansion, we remain excited by the performance and prospects of all business lines. During the first half of the year, we launched several strategic growth initiatives to address the large and growing fracture proppant market, including capacity expansion, and a joint development agreement with a North American fracture proppant distributor to address the U.S. and Canadian markets. We believe these initiatives will position GengSheng to capture additional market share as we build brand recognition, both domestically and internationally and continue to leverage the strong, rapidly growing demand from oil and gas producers.

"Our fine precision abrasives segment generated sales of approximately $1.5 million, and we continued to improve our manufacturing efficiency to drive margin expansion and profitability in this segment through improved procurement capabilities and increased monthly output which we grew to 600 metric tons in July, from 100 metric tons at the beginning of 2011.Earlier in August, China's National Development and Reform Commission announced the implementation of a solar feed-in-tariff to be paid by grid operators to solar developers, and the new policy is expected to trigger rapid growth in the solar industry in China. We believe that GengSheng is well positioned to address this anticipated demand through continued aggressive marketing of our products to solar manufacturers, and are confident in our ability to grow this business further as we ramp capacity and improve production efficiency."

Mr. Zhang concluded, "In addition to our operational progress during the first half of the year, we made an important addition to our management team with the recent appointment of Mr. Ningfang Liang as our new CFO. Ningfang joined GengSheng with an extensive background in finance and accounting, as well as a great deal of public company and SEC reporting experience. We believe Ningfang will be a valuable asset for our Company as we work to improve internal controls and processes, increase transparency and build shareholder value."

Financial Results for the Three Months Ended June 30, 2011

For the second quarter of 2011, sales revenue was$20.4 million, an increase of 36.3%, over $15.0 million in the second quarter of 2010. The year-over-year increase was mainly attributable to increased export sales from the Company's fracture proppant segment, with particular strength in the North American market, and contribution from GengSheng's fine precision abrasive products, which were launched in the third quarter of 2010.

Sales of the Company's core refractory products reached $12.5 million, or 61.4% of total sales, an increase of 10.6%, compared with $11.3 million in the second quarter of 2010. The sales increase was primarily due to an increase in average selling prices, which reached $452 per metric ton in the second quarter of 2011, representing a 22.2% increase compared with $370 per metric ton in the same period of 2010.

Sales of fracture proppants totaled $5.9 million, or 29.0% of sales, an increase of 90.3%, compared with $3.1 million in the second quarter of 2010. The increase in fracture proppants sales was mainly due to increased production capacity and growth in export sales, driven by strong demand from our US customers who use our proppant products in their new natural gas exploration technologies.

Sales of industrial ceramics products totaled $492,000, or 2.4% of sales, compared with $559,000 in the second quarter of 2010.

Sales of the Company's fine precision abrasives products, which launched in the third quarter of 2010, totaled $1.5 million, or 7.2% of total sales, a sequential increase of 78.5% over $819,000 in the first quarter of 2011.

Cost of goods sold totaled $15.1 million, an increase of 49.8%, compared with $10.1 million for the second quarter of 2010. The increase in cost of goods sold resulted from an increase in total revenue and higher raw materials costs compared with the same period in 2010.

Gross profit for the three months ended June 30, 2011, totaled$5.3 million, or 26.1% of revenue, compared with $4.9 million, or 32.8% of revenue in the second quarter of 2010.The percentage decrease was mainly due to the decrease in average selling price and the increase in the cost of raw materials compared with the same period in 2010.

For the three months ended June 30, 2011, total operating expenses were$4.5 million, compared with$3.5 million in the year-ago period. General and administrative expenses increased to $1.6 million for the second quarter of 2011, compared with $1.4 million for the second quarter in 2010. The increase was primarily due to the higher salary expenses as a result of increase in the average salary level and higher professional fees. Selling expenses increased by $950,000, or 52.5% year-over-year, to $2.8 million for the three months ended June 30, 2011, compared with $1.8 million for the second quarter of 2010. The increase in selling expenses was primarily attributable to the increase in allowance for doubtful accounts and higher transportation costs. As a percentage of net revenues, our selling expenses increased to 13.5% for the three months ended June 30, 2011, as compared to 12.1% for the same period in 2010.

Finance costs totaled $1.6 million for the three months ended June 30, 2011, compared with $344,000 in the second quarter in 2010. As a percentage of net revenues, our finance costs were 7.7% in the second quarter in 2011 and 2.2% in the same period in 2010. This significant increase was primarily due to an increase of approximately $1.3 million in bills discounting charges as we discounted more bills receivable instead of holding them to maturity.

Our income taxes were $226,000 for the three months ended June 30, 2011, an increase of approximately $105,000 or 86.8% from approximately $121 thousand for the three months ended June 30, 2010.

Net loss attributable to Company's common stockholders was$(247,000), or $(0.01) per diluted share, based on weighted average shares outstanding of 26.8 million for the second quarter of 2011. This compares with net income of $1.0 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, based on weighted average shares outstanding of 24.3 million for the second quarter in 2010. The increase in share count compared with the second quarter of 2010 was related to the completion of the Company's registered direct offering in January 2011.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of June 30, 2011, the Company had cash and cash equivalents totaling $9.5 million, compared with $925,000 as of December 31, 2010. The increase in cash and cash equivalents was primarily due to $9.3 million in net proceeds from the Company's registered direct offering in January 2011. Current assets totaled $156.2 million, with working capital of $21.0 million and total shareholders' equity of $60.0 million as of June 30, 2011, respectively.

Conference Call

Management will hold a conference call today, Monday, August 15, 2011 at 8:00 a.m. EDT (8:00 p.m. BJ time) to discuss second quarter 2011 results.

To participate in the call please dial (877) 407-9205 from the U.S. and Canada, or (201) 689-8054 for international calls, approximately 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. The call will also be available as a live, listen-only webcast at http://www.gengsheng.com/english/affair.aspx.

A telephone replay of the call will be available through August 19, 2011. To access the replay, please dial (877) 660-6853 in the U.S. and Canada, or (201) 612-7415 internationally; account number 286 and conference ID 376797. Additionally, a webcast archive will be available for a period of one year.

About China GengSheng Minerals, Inc.

China GengSheng Minerals, Inc. ("GengSheng") develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of high-tech industrial material products, including monolithic refractories, industrial ceramics, fracture proppants and fine precision abrasives. A market leader offering customized solutions, GengSheng sells its products primarily to the iron and steel industry as heat-resistant components for steel-making furnaces, industrial kilns and other high-temperature vessels to guarantee and improve the productivity of those expensive pieces of equipment while reducing their consumption of energy. Founded in 1986 and based in China's Henan province, GengSheng currently has over 200 customers in the iron, steel, oil, glass, cement, aluminum and chemical businesses located in China and other countries. GengSheng conducts business through GengSheng International Corporation, a British Virgin Islands company, and its Chinese subsidiaries, which are Henan GengSheng Refractories Co., Ltd., Zhengzhou Duesail Fracture Proppant Co., Ltd., Henan GengSheng Micronized Powder Materials Co., Ltd, Guizhou SouthEast Prefecture Co., Ltd., GengSheng New Materials Co., Ltd, Henan GengSheng High Temperature Materials Co., Ltd. and Henan Yuxing Proppant Co., Ltd.