China Steel Corp (中鋼) will raise its domestic product prices by an average of 9.4 percent in September, an official at the nation’s largest and only integrated steel maker said yesterday.
“To follow the global trend, the company has decided to increase steel prices by an average of NT$1,710 (US$52.23) per tonne in September,” public relations official Hung Jui-bin (洪瑞彬) said by telephone.
The Kaohsiung-based company’s price hike follows on the heels of similar moves by China’s Baoshan Iron & Steel Co (Baosteel, 寶鋼) and Anshan Iron & Steel Group (鞍鋼) as well as South Korea’s Pohang Iron & Steel Co (POSCO).
It also marked the second increase for the company this year after it raised its prices for this month and next month by 7 percent.
The 9.4 percent hike was at the higher end of Macquarie Research Equities analysts’ forecast of a rise between 5 percent and 10 percent, according to a research note issued last Wednesday.
The price hike means that steel plates will cost NT$1,517 more per tonne, while bar and wire rod prices will increase NT$1,200 per tonne, China Steel said in a statement.
The price of hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel will increase by NT$1,800 and NT$1,588 per tonne respectively. Electro-galvanized coil wire and electrical coil wire will each cost NT$2,500 and NT$2,870 more per tonne, while hot-dip zinc-galvanized sheets will be up by NT$3,167 per tonne, the statement showed.
China Steel said domestic steel prices would have risen even more if it had used surging international prices as a gauge.
“Considering the domestic economy is just beginning to bottom out and the momentum of recovery remains weak, China Steel decided on a small price hike while helping ‘enhance the competitiveness of domestic downstream industries,’” the company said in the statement.
“The adjusted prices are still lower than the international prices,” it said.
China Steel posted a pretax profit last week of NT$774 million, or NT$0.06 per share, in the second quarter, compared with a pretax loss of NT$9.57 billion in the first three months and a profit of NT$23 billion a year earlier.
On June 19, chairman Chang Chia-chu (張家祝) told shareholders at the firm’s annual general meeting that the company expects to book a profit in the third quarter on rising demand.
He said the company might be profitable for the whole year, if earnings made in the fourth quarter are big enough to offset the first-quarter loss.
The company made a profit of NT$24.03 billion last year, down 53.13 percent from 2007, after incurring a fourth-quarter loss of NT$15.45 billion amid the global economic slowdown, company statistics showed.
China Steel’s shares closed 3.53 percent higher yesterday at NT$29.30. The stock has risen 26.84 percent so far this year, stock exchange data showed.
The benchmark TAIEX has risen 55.57 percent over the same period.
Contract chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) yesterday said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Polar Semiconductor LLC to collaborate on the production of 8-inch wafers in the US. The collaboration aims to strengthen 8-inch wafer manufacturing in the US amid Washington’s efforts to increase onshore manufacturing of semiconductors, contribute to supply chain resilience against shifting geopolitical dynamics, and ensure a secure domestic supply of power semiconductors critical to automotive, electric grids, robotic manufacturing and data centers, the companies said in a joint statement. Under the MOU, Polar and UMC will identify devices for Polar to manufacture at
TECH TITANS: Amazon’s latest chip joins Google in competing for the 90 percent market share held by Nvidia, which claims it is ‘a generation ahead of the industry’ Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Tuesday launched its in-house-built Trainium3 artificial intelligence (AI) chip, marking a significant push to compete with Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market for AI computing power. The move intensifies competition in the AI chip market, where Nvidia dominates with an estimated 80 to 90 percent market share for products used in training large language models that power the likes of ChatGPT. Google last week caused tremors in the industry when it was reported that Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc would employ Google AI chips in data centers, signaling new competition for Nvidia. This followed the release last month of
INSULATED: The company said it is less exposed to global complications, as it has built a strong footprint worldwide, and has multiple sources of rare earths and raw minerals Merck Group yesterday said it would ramp up production next year at its new flagship facility in Kaohsiung’s Lujhu District (路竹) to satisfy growing demand for advanced semiconductor materials and specialty gases, and to address supply resilience issues amid mounting geopolitical risks. Merck made the remarks during a news conference before the inauguration of its 500 million euros (US$582.1 million) facility, which is also to supply other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, it said. Merck executive board deputy chair and electronics CEO Kai Beckmann told reporters the company adopted a “local-for-local” strategy about seven years ago to address the cycle time of
Two companies wholly owned by the daughter of the founder of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Monday reported to the Taiwan Stock Exchange that they would dispose of all of the Hon Hai shares they hold. In filings with the exchange, Hong Wei Investment Co (鋐維) said it would sell the 2.771 million Hon Hai shares it holds and Frontier Investment Corp (承鋒投資) said it would sell its 2.409 million Hon Hai shares from tomorrow until Jan. 3 next year. The two companies are wholly owned and chaired by Shirley Gou (郭曉玲), the eldest daughter of Hon Hai founder Terry
RSS