China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼) on Friday announced that it would cut steel quotation prices for domestic deliveries in the third quarter to reflect increasing uncertainty that has resulted in a wait-and-see approach in the global steel market.
It would lower the price of benchmark hot-rolled sheets and coils by NT$1,000 per tonne and cold-rolled sheets and coils — which are used in the automotive industry — by NT$941 per tonne, the Kaohsiung-based steelmaker said in a statement.
CSC would also decrease the price of electro-galvanized sheets by NT$600 per tonne, electrical sheets by NT$750 per tonne and hot-dipped, zinc-galvanized sheets by NT$800 per tonne, it said.
To support the export competitiveness of domestic downstream customers, the company has decided to also drop the price of steel bars and rods by NT$1,066 per tonne, and steel plates by NT$529 per tonne, it said.
“Due to the unresolved trade conflict between the United States and China, international political and economic uncertainty has increased, affecting global economic growth momentum this year,” CSC said in the statement. “Global uncertainties have caused short-term turmoil in the international steel market, and end users have reduced their inventory levels in response.”
As the costs of raw materials such as coking coal and iron ore remain high, major international steel mills have adjusted their strategies to avoid losses, with China Baowu Steel Group (中國寶武鋼鐵) and Shougang Group Corp (首鋼) leaving their product prices unchanged for next month’s shipments, CSC said.
The firm said that international steel prices have no room to fall in the short-term, as “high raw material costs have supported steel prices even with the sluggish market.”
“In the future, if the US-China trade negotiations turn positive and the market’s wait-and-see atmosphere dissipates, restocking demand will ... boost international steel prices once again,” CSC said.
The company’s latest move highlights how fast market dynamics have changed over the past three months.
In early March, CSC raised its steel quotation prices for most products for this quarter by NT$300 to NT$490 per tonne, and gave a positive outlook for the year on the back of healthy supply-demand dynamics in Japan, South Korean and China, as well as seemingly relaxed trade tensions between the US and China.
The trend toward unfavorable international steel prices and weaker downstream demand might further squeeze the company’s gross margin due to higher feedstock costs.
"Although CSC faces operational challenges such as high material costs, the company has still decided to moderately lower its quotation prices for next quarter to improve downstream competitiveness and reflects the close partnership between the upstream and downstream industry," the steelmaker said.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS