China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation’s only integrated steelmaker, yesterday cut its domestic prices for next year’s January and February shipments by 1.71 percent on average, or NT$352 per tonne, compared with next month’s shipments as raw material prices keep declining.
China Steel vice president for sales Liu Jih-gang (劉季剛) said by telephone yesterday that the price of iron ore, the main raw material for making steel, has dropped to US$75 per tonne, hitting its lowest level since the global financial crisis, according to Platts.
The price was also lower than the US$83 per tonne quoted by China Steel for December shipments, the company said.
Liu attributed the price decline to oversupply, which was partly caused by overoptimism about economic growth in China. Liu said it is a global trend.
Steel prices in Southeast Asia dropped by US$5 to US$10 per tonne recently, while steel prices in Europe are also on the decline, Liu said. Even in the US, steel companies have been unable to raise prices amid the economic recovery, he added.
Major steel companies in China — including Baosteel Group Corp (寶鋼), Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corp (鞍鋼) and Wuhan Iron and Steel Corp (武漢鋼鐵) — have either reduced their prices for December shipments or raised them slightly, Liu said.
Liu said the company does not expect the price of iron ore to decline further, while steel prices in China will gradually bottom out.
“As steel companies worldwide are generally adjusting prices downward, China Steel cannot buck the trend,” Liu said, adding that its downstream companies are facing severe competition from their peers abroad, which have access to cheap steel.
China Steel decided to cut its prices for steel plates by NT$604 (US$19.65) per tonne and its steel bars and rods by NT$317 per tonne, the firm said.
The price of cold-rolled sheets and coils, which are used mainly in the automobile industry, is to drop by NT$492 per tonne, while the price of benchmark hot-rolled sheets and coils is to decline by NT$307 per tonne, the company said.
The price of electrical sheets, which are used to manufacture home appliances, is to decline by NT$78 per tonne, while the price of hot-dipped, zinc-galvanized sheets is to drop by NT$383 per tonne, it said.
However, the company is keeping the price of electro-galvanized sheets unchanged as market sentiment for the product is relatively positive, it said.
Liu said China Steel expects its shipments in the next quarter to be 3.12 million tonnes, similar to this quarter.
Commenting on the free-trade agreement between China and South Korea, Liu said it is too early to estimate its impact as the pact is not expected to be finalized until the second or third quarter next year.
Sales abroad account for about 35 percent of China Steel’s revenue, while sales in China make up less than 15 percent, Liu said.
The company sells between 800,000 tonnes and 900,000 tonnes of steel in China a year, while it sold 9.48 million tonnes of steel last year on a non-consolidated basis, Liu said.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure