China Steel to maintain exports at 25% of production

China Steel Corp (中鋼) will keep the proportion of its products that it sells abroad at 25 percent of total sales in order to meet domestic demand, executive vice president Chen Yuan-cheng (陳源成) said in an interview.

The company, which sold about 10 million tonnes of steel in each of the last two years, has been cutting the proportion of its products that it exports.

Last year, the Kaohsiung-based steelmaker raised its domestic sales to 75 percent of total, compared with 71 percent in 2002.

A year ago the state-controlled company said it would cut overseas sales to meet demand in its home market after industry workers protested domestic shortages and price increases.

China Steel's production meets about 44 to 66 percent of domestic demand for steel products, Chen said.

"We will try to maintain a 75-25 domestic versus export proportion because we have to keep to agreements with our foreign customers," Chen said.

"It's really an issue of price rather than a shortage problem," he said.

The company last month said it will raise its products' domestic prices for the second quarter of this year to reflect higher international prices and increases in raw material and transportation costs.

Next quarter's selling prices will be on average one-fifth higher than the current quarter, Chen said.