Posted on 16 Aug 2024
China Steel Corp (CSC, ä¸é‹¼), the nation’s largest steelmaker, yesterday announced that it would cut steel quotation prices for domestic deliveries next month — its first price cut across the board since August last year — as the global steel market grapples with China’s excessive exports of low-priced products.
The move also reflects weak sentiment in the market dented by factors such as extreme weather, financial market turmoil and the off-season effect in summer, the Kaohsiung-based company said in a statement.
While the prices of iron ore have recently dropped to US$100 per tonne and those of coking coal have fallen to between US$210 and US$220 per tonne to help cut steelmaking cost, they are still at relatively high on a long term basis, it said.
As a result, the company said it would lower the price of benchmark hot-rolled steel plates and coils by NT$600 per tonne and cold-rolled steel plates and coils by NT$500 per tonne.
The company would also decrease the price of electro-galvanized steel coils, hot-dipped, zinc-galvanized steel coils and electro-magnetic steel coils by NT$500 per tonne each, it said.
“We will moderately lower prices in September to help domestic downstream customers secure orders and lessen the impact of low-priced steel imports,” China Steel said in the statement.
The company said the oversupply situation in China has continued to worsen, leading to a large number of low-priced products being exported.
ArcelorMittal SA, the world's second-largest steel producer, earlier this month said China’s aggressive exports were creating problems for the global steel industry, while China Baowu Steel Group Corp (寶æ¦é‹¼éµé›†), the world's largest, this week warned of a severe industry crisis as steel prices collapse.
In the first seven months of this year, exports of steel from China increased 21.8 percent year-on-year to 61.23 million tonnes, while average export prices decreased 24.8 percent from a year earlier, both adding pressure on the global steel market, China Steel said, citing data compiled by the Beijing-based China Iron and Steel Association.
Countries including Vietnam, Thailand and Turkey have recently responded with trade measures, including anti-dumping complaints against China’s hot-rolled steel products, the company said, adding that it would also apply for trade remedy measures in Taiwan to curb the arrivals of low-priced steel products from China.
On Tuesday, the company reported its net profit in the first half of the year surged 635.58 percent year-on-year to NT$1.96 billion (US$60.7 million).
Earnings per share rose to NT$0.13 from NT$0.02 in the same period a year earlier.
Consolidated revenue in the first seven months grew 1.2 percent annually to NT$217.6 billion, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Source:Taipei Times
