Taiwan Cement Corp (台泥), one of the nation’s leading cement suppliers, on Monday said that it has raised cement prices in China’s Guangdong Province amid rising demand.
The firm said it has increased product prices in the province, its major market in China, by 20 yuan (US$3.26) per tonne. High-end cement now costs 340 yuan per tonne, up from 320 yuan.
The company said demand in the Pearl River Delta area grew sharply late last month as inventories were drawn down for construction projects ahead of China’s Oct. 1 National Day holiday.
Analysts said Taiwan Cement should benefit from the upturn in demand for the rest of the year because the fourth quarter is a peak season in China’s cement market, one that is expected to receive an extra boost from the government’s efforts to push investments in infrastructure.
It was Taiwan Cement’s second price hike in Guangdong since August, when it raised prices by 10 yuan per tonne. The firm said it does not rule out raising cement prices in other provinces, such as Guangxi, Jiangsu and Sichuan, given solid demand.
According to its Web site, Taiwan Cement operates production lines in several Chinese provinces, including Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou.
In the first half of the year, the firm sold 22.7 million tonnes of cement in China, compared with 3.1 million tonnes in Taiwan.
Taiwan Cement posted a net profit of NT$5.03 billion (US$165.22 million) in the first half, up 25.72 percent from a year earlier. Earnings per share reached a record NT$1.36, compared with NT$1.08 the previous year.
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