Unlike many other business sectors that have suffered heavy losses, the steel industry is expected to benefit from the Sept. 21 earthquake for at least the next two years, according to industry experts. The market research section of China Steel (
According to Wang Chung-yu (
The steel industry's fortunes hit rock bottom in the first quarter of this year. With Taiwan and the region's gradual recovery following the financial difficulties over the past few years, the steel industry started to recover from the second quarter of the year. Indeed, the recovery was so strong that in July, China Steel's output of steel products reached the highest monthly output on record for the company. However, the dumping of H-shaped beams and rebars from other countries has kept the prices of these products very low.
The major steel products used for construction include rebars, H-shaped beams, angle bars, and steel structures. According to industry sources, the damage caused by the earthquake will create extra demand for around 2 million metric tons of rebars. Taiwan's regular yearly demand for rebars is around 5 to 6 million metric tons.
With the added demand, rebar prices have risen from about NT$7,200 per metric ton before the earthquake to NT$7,800 now. The price for H-shaped beams has increased from NT$9,300 per metric ton to NT$10,000.
Although steel prices are likely to continue to rise, several manufacturers say that they will not use the increased demand caused by the earthquake to raise steel prices for their own gains. With respect to this, Taiwan's Steel and Iron Industries Association has even set up a hotline for customers to file complaints over hiked steel prices.
Furthermore, to help people made homeless by the earthquake to rebuild their houses, steel manufacturers have agreed to give the priority to providing steel for rebuilding their houses.
According to Robinson Yang, (
In response to the increased demand for steel products, the TAIEX steel sub-index has risen from 63.39 before the earthquake to 68.35 yesterday.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the