China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼) on Friday announced that it would cut steel quotation prices for domestic deliveries in the third quarter to reflect increasing uncertainty that has resulted in a wait-and-see approach in the global steel market.
It would lower the price of benchmark hot-rolled sheets and coils by NT$1,000 per tonne and cold-rolled sheets and coils — which are used in the automotive industry — by NT$941 per tonne, the Kaohsiung-based steelmaker said in a statement.
CSC would also decrease the price of electro-galvanized sheets by NT$600 per tonne, electrical sheets by NT$750 per tonne and hot-dipped, zinc-galvanized sheets by NT$800 per tonne, it said.
To support the export competitiveness of domestic downstream customers, the company has decided to also drop the price of steel bars and rods by NT$1,066 per tonne, and steel plates by NT$529 per tonne, it said.
“Due to the unresolved trade conflict between the United States and China, international political and economic uncertainty has increased, affecting global economic growth momentum this year,” CSC said in the statement. “Global uncertainties have caused short-term turmoil in the international steel market, and end users have reduced their inventory levels in response.”
As the costs of raw materials such as coking coal and iron ore remain high, major international steel mills have adjusted their strategies to avoid losses, with China Baowu Steel Group (中國寶武鋼鐵) and Shougang Group Corp (首鋼) leaving their product prices unchanged for next month’s shipments, CSC said.
The firm said that international steel prices have no room to fall in the short-term, as “high raw material costs have supported steel prices even with the sluggish market.”
“In the future, if the US-China trade negotiations turn positive and the market’s wait-and-see atmosphere dissipates, restocking demand will ... boost international steel prices once again,” CSC said.
The company’s latest move highlights how fast market dynamics have changed over the past three months.
In early March, CSC raised its steel quotation prices for most products for this quarter by NT$300 to NT$490 per tonne, and gave a positive outlook for the year on the back of healthy supply-demand dynamics in Japan, South Korean and China, as well as seemingly relaxed trade tensions between the US and China.
The trend toward unfavorable international steel prices and weaker downstream demand might further squeeze the company’s gross margin due to higher feedstock costs.
"Although CSC faces operational challenges such as high material costs, the company has still decided to moderately lower its quotation prices for next quarter to improve downstream competitiveness and reflects the close partnership between the upstream and downstream industry," the steelmaker said.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS