Print

Mail

wiki links

China Steel beats forecast

China Steel Corp (中鋼) said profit this year will exceed its NT$46.4 billion (US$1.4 billion) forecast made in June because of higher global prices and strengthening demand.

Pretax income is expected to reach NT$59.5 billion from its previous forecast of NT$42 billion, with earnings per share at NT$6.02 pretax and at NT$4.74 aftertax, the company said.

"We have room to raise prices," executive vice president Chen Yuan-cheng (陳源成) told reporters at the company's headquarters in Kaohsiung.

Net income will increase again next year, Chen said, without giving figures.

"Demand is so strong, there's a shortage of supply," he said.

The global steel industry, which is estimated to churn out around 800 million tonnes per year. Strong demand from China and rising costs of shipping and coal are pushing steel prices higher.

China Steel, which sells more than a third of its exports to China and gets about a quarter of sales from overseas, has raised prices every quarter since the second quarter of 2002. It posted a 24 percent surge in first-half profit to NT$22.6 billion. The company won't export more than 25 percent of its output to China because of strong domestic demand, Chen said.

China Steel's shares have gained 29 percent this year.
This story has been viewed 2068 times.