Leading stainless steel producers in Taiwan yesterday reported substantially improved sales this month, kindling hopes that the market has at least touched bottom, if not yet started to rebound.
Yieh United Steel Corp (燁聯) in Kaohsiung County — the largest integrated stainless steel mill in Southeast Asia with an annual capacity of 1 million tonnes — indicated that thanks to rising international nickel prices, its stainless steel supply this month is expected to reach 70,000 tonnes.
The estimated volume for this month is a significant increase from the historical monthly lows of 40,000 tonnes in January and February and around 60,000 tonnes last month, the mill said.
Tang Eng Iron Works Co (唐榮) in Kaohsiung, a specialized producer of stainless steel with an annual capacity of 260,000 tonnes, also reported that its capacity utilization rate has increased from 20 percent in February to 80 percent this month, with total production this month estimated to triple to 24,000 tonnes from the monthly average of the first quarter.
Both Yieh United and Tang Eng hiked their stainless steel prices in the middle of the month, prompting a wave of price increases by downstream producers, including Yeun Chyang Industrial Co (允強), Froch Enterprise Co (彰源), Chien Shing Stainless Steel Co (千興), Yeou Yih Steel Co (有益), Sinkang Industries Co (新鋼), Ta Chen Stainless Pipe Co (大成) and Rodex Fasteners Corp (華祺).
Most producers said they believed that as long as nickel prices remain above US$10,000 per tonne next month and in June, their monthly revenues in the second quarter would continue to recover.
Stainless steel producers use about two-thirds of global nickel supplies, as the alloy contains up to 9 percent nickel, which accounts for about half of total stainless-steel production costs.
Nickel traded at an average price of US$9,686 per tonne in January on the London Metal Exchange and rose 15 percent to slightly above US$10,000 per tonne in February and the middle of last month before dipping below US$10,000 per tonne again late last month.
The prices soared again this month and broke US$12,000 per tonne a week ago, setting a new high for this year.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
RSS