The nation’s largest steelmaker, China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), is setting ambitious carbon emission reduction goals, chairman Wong Chao-tung (翁朝棟) said yesterday.
“By 2025, we aim to reduce emissions by 7 percent, and by 2050, we will achieve carbon neutrality,” Wong told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting in Kaohsiung, which was also streamed online. “The company will develop into a dual auxiliary company: a high-end steelmaker and a green energy company.”
The gross margin for “high-end” steel is at least 20 percent, Wong said, adding that last year, CSC shipped 296,000 tonnes of high-end steel.
Photo courtesy of China Steel Corp
“The era of high steel prices is upon us,” he said, predicting a strong fourth quarter.
As for CSC’s move into the renewable energy sector, Wong said it was a strategic investment in the future.
“Apart from semiconductors, the green energy industry is the most hopeful bright spot for Taiwanese industry,” he said.
Seventy percent of steel used in Tesla Inc’s electric vehicle (EV) motors come from CSC and the company plans to join Hon Hai Precision Industry Co’s (鴻海精密) MIH Open Platform alliance for the development of EVs, and “take full initiative in developing the EV market,” Wong said.
“Thanks to a clear resurgence in manufacturing at home and abroad, as well as the strong demand for vehicles, basic infrastructure and home appliances, demand for steel now outpaces supply in the global market,” the company said in a statement.
According to Japanese news reports, CSC’s market value has risen to make it the sixth-largest in the world.
Shares of CSC yesterday rose 1.63 percent to end at NT$37.5 in Taipei trading, giving the company a market value of NT$590.1 billion (US$21.22 billion).
“For a steel producer that only makes 10 million tonnes of steel per year to achieve such a high market value is remarkable,” Wong said.
Due to a decline in demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, CSC reported earnings per share of NT$0.05 last year, down from NT$0.57 the previous year.
Shareholders yesterday approved the company’s proposed distribution of a cash dividend of NT$0.3 percent, which suggested a payout ratio of 600 percent, as the company decided to use some of its reserved profit to pay for cash dividends.
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