With the global economic growth momentum weakening and headwinds rising for domestic consumption because of energy price hikes, China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼) yesterday said it was keeping domestic steel prices for July-August delivery mostly flat from next month’s levels.
The announcement follows its decision on April 20 to keep steel prices for delivery next month unchanged because demand from downstream customers remained lukewarm. Analysts said they did not expect substantial price hikes in the near term.
China Steel, the nation’s largest and only integrated steelmaker, said in an e-mailed statement that it would not adjust July-August prices for five types of products — steel plates, steel bars and rods, hot-rolled sheets and coils, electro-galvanized sheets and electrical sheets — to help domestic customers maintain their international competitiveness.
PRICE CUTS
However, prices for cold-rolled sheets and coils and for hot-dipped, zinc-galvanized sheets and coils used for automobiles will be reduced by about NT$450 per tonne from next month’s levels, the Greater Kaohsiung-based company said.
“While Taiwan’s economy is expected to improve gradually in the second half, we decided to keep most prices unchanged after taking into account the potential impact of global political and economic uncertainties, as well as domestic fuel and power price increases, on downstream customers,” China Steel said in the statement.
Ahead of the company’s price announcement, Citigroup Global Markets predicted the Taiwanese manufacturer would keep prices for its benchmark hot-rolled coils unchanged at NT$20,300 per tonne to match current domestic spot quotes.
Tsai Yen-ling (蔡燕鈴), an analyst at Grand Cathay Investment Services Corp (大華投顧), said China Steel’s announcement was in line with her expectations.
The brokerage added that the odds of China Steel introducing substantial price hikes in the near term were rather low because market prospects for the second half remained uncleared.
"The company's latest move is mainly to restore and maintain market confidence," Tsai said.
So far this year, China Steel has not been able to raise domestic prices significantly because of global economic conditions.
In February, the company increased prices for delivery last month and this month by an average of 1.11 percent, after it kept prices unchanged for March and lowered January-February prices by an average of 7.08 percent per tonne, company data showed.
PROFIT DOWNGRADE
Tsai adjusted downward her profit forecast for China Steel this year. She expects the company's net income to reach NT$12.19 billion, or earnings per share of NT$0.81, down 37.5 percent from last year’s profit of NT$19.5 billion, or earnings per share of NT$1.45. Revenue is expected to reach NT$226.8 billion, down 5.6 percent from last year, she said in a research note.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last