China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), the nation’s only integrated steel maker, yesterday said it expected a better performance this quarter after making a profit in the last quarter.
CSC vice president Lin Chung-yi (林中義) said the company was optimistic because of higher average prices and more working days.
Lin made the remarks after the company reported consolidated pretax profit of NT$5.68 billion (US$190.6 million) in the first three months, compared with losses of NT$382.51 million a year ago. The first-quarter figure was 104.32 percent higher than the NT$2.78 billion of the previous quarter.
Last month, the company’s consolidated pretax profit was NT$2.76 billion, up 86 percent from NT$1.48 billion the previous month.
China Steel did not provide a comparative monthly figure for March last year. Its unconsolidated pretax profit in March last year was NT$328.64 million.
Grand Cathay Investment Services Corp (大華投顧) analyst Tsai Yen-ling (蔡燕鈴) said China Steel’s first-quarter profit was in line with her forecast.
Tsai said she expected profits to keep rising this quarter as prices of iron ore, a major raw material for making steel, are declining.
However, Tsai said she did not expect China Steel to increase prices for July and August shipments, after the company on Friday lowered its domestic steel prices for June shipments by an average of 2.08 percent per tonne.
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