China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation’s largest steelmaker, yesterday raised major steel product prices by NT$300 (US$9.71) per tonne for domestic deliveries next month, thanks to improving domestic demand from makers of vehicles, as well as computers and servers due to growing artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
Domestic steel consumption is poised to recover from the trough as inventory correction is nearing an end, the Kaohsiung-based steelmaker said in a statement.
The market outlook is positive, aided by the government’s NT$680 billion public infrastructure project, giving a further lift to steel demand, the company said.
Photo courtesy of China Steel Corp
“Market confidence is recovering. Inventory rebuild demand is poised to emerge,” China Steel said. “As the steel market is in the nascent stage of a recovery, the company is raising steel prices moderately to reflect increases in raw material costs and foreign exchange rate fluctuations.”
The global prices of coking coal and iron ore have hit the bottom and are poised for a rebound, China Steel said.
The price of iron ore has lingered at the bottom at about US$105 to US$115 per tonne, while the price of coking coal has recovered to between US$225 and US$235 per tonne, China Steel said.
Snapping two straight months of price reductions, China Steel raised the prices of hot-rolled steel plates, hot-rolled steel coils and cold-rolled steel plates by NT$300 per tonne.
It also increased the price of galvannealed steel coils used in construction by NT$300 per tonne, but kept the price unchanged for galvannealed steel coils used in home appliances and computers, as well as the price of electrical steel coils.
China Steel’s price hikes matched upward adjustments by its Chinese counterparts. Baowu Steel Group Ltd (寶武鋼鐵), the world’s biggest steelmaker, and Angang Steel Co (鞍山鋼鐵) raised the prices for hot-rolled, cold-rolled and galvannealed steel by 100 yuan (US$14) per tonne for deliveries next month, in a sign that global steel prices would go up further in the second half of this year, China Steel said in the statement.
That was the first price hike in four months by Baowu Steel and Angang Steel.
China Steel’s pretax profit in the first five months of the year plunged 93 percent to NT$1.72 billion from NT$24.6 billion during the same period last year, its filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange on June 26 showed.
The company attributed the decline to falling steel shipments, lower prices and gross margin erosion.
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