China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation’s biggest steelmaker, saw its fourth-quarter pretax profit grow 62.1 percent to NT$17.91 billion (US$560.2 million) from NT$11.05 billion in the third quarter, the company said yesterday.
The fourth-quarter profit compares with a pretax loss of NT$18.26 billion the firm posted a year earlier, when demand was weak amid the global recession.
For the whole of last year, the Kaohsiung-based company said its pretax profit totaled NT$20.16 billion, although that was still 33.38 percent lower than the NT$30.26 billion it made in 2008 and far behind the NT$61.65 billion in 2007.
Fourth-quarter revenue rose 19 percent to NT$50.06 billion from NT$42.07 billion in the third quarter, but was down 9.2 percent from NT$55.15 billion a year ago. For the full year, revenue totaled NT$165.41 billion, down 35.48 percent from NT$256.36 billion in 2008.
Production volume was 2.27 million tonnes in the fourth quarter, up from 2.08 million tonnes in the previous quarter, while sales volume totaled 2.265 million tonnes, compared with 2.19 million tonnes in the previous quarter, the company said.
“Steel prices have rebounded from the third quarter, raw material prices have dropped and the No.3 blast furnace has resumed production following maintenance, which allows [us] to lower production costs and to continue improving profitability,” the company said.
The company said its board also approved the appointment of Tsou Juo-chi (鄒若齊) as president, replacing Chen Yuan-cheng (陳源成), who is retiring. The appointment will take effect on Monday.
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