China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼), Taiwan’s largest steel producer, yesterday cut domestic prices on some of its products for deliveries next quarter and gave a soft price guidance for next year due to rising uncertainties about global trade.
In an effort to ensure the interests of its downstream customers, CSC has cut the prices of the majority of its steel products, ending five quarters of consecutive price increases that was helped by robust global demand, as well as Beijing’s call to elevate environmental standards and curb oversupply.
The company has cut the prices of electrical sheets by NT$900 (US$29.14) per tonne and cold-rolled coils by NT$400 per tonne, while hot-rolled coils and hot-dipped, zinc-galvanized sheets have been reduced by NT$300 per tonne.
No changes have been made to the prices of steel plates, steel bars and electro-galvanized sheets.
Although the company is facing rising raw material costs, the price cuts would help its customers remain competitive and mitigate inventory losses, as well as ensure smooth deliveries next year before the lull during the Lunar New Year holiday, CSC said in a statement.
While customers hold opposing opinions about steel pricing, CSC said that it would continue to seek consensus across the supply chain, stabilize prices and bring flexibility for the industry to react to changing market conditions, it said.
Meanwhile, the company said that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development this month only reduced its global GDP growth forecast by 0.2 percent to 3.5 percent from its earlier estimate in September and that the absence of a significant tumble is encouraging.
Other demand upsides include continued consumption and economic growth in the US amid interest rate increases, while Washington has also made progress on easing ongoing trade tensions at a G20 summit, the company said.
CSC noted that the World Steel Association last month also raised its forecast for global demand by 3.4 percent to 1.68 billion tonnes from its earlier estimate in April, adding that oversupply concerns have been eased by the tighter output limits imposed by Beijing this winter.
Downsides include upcoming exemptions to the US’ section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, which could cause a return to oversupply conditions as Asian suppliers increase output and affect pricing stabilization.
Taiwan’s industries are less susceptible to additional tariffs under the US’ investigation, while local businesses have benefited as customers shift orders to Taiwan-made goods.
Local demand for steel would be further bolstered by the government’s NT$235.8 billion of infrastructure projects, as well as a major expansion by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), CSC said.
However, the local automobile industry has been struggling with slowing sales, as automakers have been facing intensifying competition from Chinese rivals, it said.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary
RSS