Rising steel prices and increased shipments have boosted China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation’s largest and only integrated steelmaker, to post a 12.6 percent increase in revenues quarter-on-quarter during the April-to-June period.
Revenues in the second quarter totaled NT$63.63 billion (US$2.21 billion), up NT$7.12 billion from NT$56.51 billion in the first quarter, the company’s data showed. Year-on-year, the quarterly figure represented a 7.36 percent rise from NT$59.27 billion for the same period last year, according to company data.
SALES UP
The quarterly sales figures came as China Steel said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Friday that sales for last month increased slightly by 0.78 percent to NT$21.35 billion from the previous month.
The company’s second--quarter performance also came after it adjusted upward its quarterly steel prices for domestic clients by 12.1 percent to reflect rising raw material costs.
In the first six months of the year, accumulated revenues reached NT$120.13 billion, up 6.78 percent from NT$112.51 billion a year earlier, according to the company’s tallies.
PRICE ANNOUNCEMENT
Meanwhile, the Greater -Kaohsiung-based company is scheduled to announce its domestic prices for September on Wednesday, after it cut prices on May 26 for most of its steel products for delivery this month and next month by an average of NT$1,099 a tonne, or 4.19 percent, to reflect weak demand by its downstream customers.
Analysts have expected the steelmaker to continue to lower prices, with that of hot-rolled coil, a benchmark product, likely to drop by an average of 3 percent to 5 percent to US$715 to US$700 a tonne to reflect the current market situation and help support downstream customers’ global competitiveness, Citigroup Global Markets said in a note on Friday.
“Moderate demand and growing production in China continues to put pressure on steel prices in the region,” Citigroup analyst Timothy Chen wrote in the note.
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