Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥) yesterday said it would raise product prices by 20 yuan (US$3.03) per tonne to 360 yuan for shipments to Guangdong and Guangxi provinces to reflect robust demand in southern China.
The new prices are to take effective from tomorrow in response to a continuous undersupply of cement, as the industry is entering its peak season in China, the company said in a statement.
Last month, the company raised prices to between 320 yuan and 370 yuan for deliveries to southeast China.
Apart from customer demand, the shortage is the result of some Chinese cement makers halting production because of Beijing’s tighter environmental regulations.
Further price hikes are possible if demand momentum in the Chinese market is sustained, Taiwan Cement said.
Taiwan Cement, which began to expand its footprint in China in the early 2000s, is China’s seventh-largest cement maker by capacity.
The company posted net profit of NT$1.97 billion (US$65.64 million) last quarter, a 15.09 percent decrease from NT$2.32 billion the previous year, with operating income falling 14.02 percent annually to NT$3.25 billion from NT$3.78 billion. Earnings per share were NT$0.53, down from NT$0.63 a year ago, data showed.
Sales in the July-to-September period increased by 3.18 percent to NT$23.06 billion from NT$22.35 billion on an annual basis, but gross margin slid to 18.46 percent from 22.19 percent.
The weak performance was partly due to a NT$320 million loss from halted production and repairs after equipment at the company’s Ho-ping Power Co (和平電廠) was damaged in a typhoon in July.
In the first three quarters, earnings per share stood at NT$1.34, up 8.8 percent year-on-year, company data showed.
Credit Suisse Group AG said in a report released on Nov 13 that earnings growth is expected to resume this quarter on higher prices and shipments amid seasonal demand.
Supported by improving industry environment and revenue contribution from its Hong Kong-listed unit, TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團), the company could achieve a 20 percent growth in earnings next year, Credit Suisse predicted.
Taiwan Cement last month completed the privatization of TCC International, which has cement operations in several southern Chinese provinces.
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