China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation’s largest steelmaker, is to accelerate cuts for domestic steel prices by 2.23 percent for next month’s deliveries, given a sharp demand correction as panic buying caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine abated last month, it said yesterday.
China Steel is also keeping steel prices for next quarter unchanged, compared with the current quarter, given unfavorable short-term prospects.
Uncertainty about the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic and mounting global inflationary pressures have added to a slowdown in steel demand, the Kaohsiung-based company said in a statement.
Photo courtesy of China Steel Corp
Substantial measures taken this month by the US and the EU to control inflation could slow the recovery of the global economy, it added.
“The outbreak of the war in Ukraine caused a supply shortage, triggering panic inventory building demand in March and April, leading to surges in steel prices,” it said. “With the effect of blunting, many customers in the US and Europe froze new orders in May.”
The downturn has spread to Asia, as shown in a broad pullback in steel prices there, the company said.
Imports of lower-priced steel products from China, South Korea, India and Russia also negatively affected the local market, it said.
China Steel has asked the Taiwan Steel and Iron Industries Association to activate a monitoring mechanism for anti-dumping complaints if abnormal price quotes are found compromising the local market, the company said.
“As customers have seen a sharp decline in new orders and thin turnover, the company is lowering prices by between NT$600 and NT$1500 per tonne for deliveries next month,” the statement said.
“The company hopes the new price quotes will help accelerate the market to its lowest level and help customers strengthen their competitiveness over export rivals,” it said.
China Steel said it is seeing early signs of a rebound as China’s Baowu Steel Group Croup Ltd (寶武鋼鐵) and Angang Steel Co (鞍山鋼鐵) have ceased cutting prices and kept quotes flat for next month’s deliveries.
China Steel decided to cut prices of all hot-rolled steel plates and coils by NT$1,500 per tonne, it said, adding that cold-rolled coils would go down NT$1,500 per tonne as well.
Based on China Steel’s price adjustment plan, the cost of galvanized steel coils used in anti-fingerprint steel sheets and construction would fall NT$1,200 and NT$1,500 per tonne respectively.
The price of hot-dipped zinc-galvanized steel coils used in home appliances, computers and other devices would fall NT$1,200 per tonne, the company said.
FALLING BEHIND: Samsung shares have declined more than 20 percent this year, as the world’s largest chipmaker struggles in key markets and plays catch-up to rival SK Hynix Samsung Electronics Co is laying off workers in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand as part of a plan to reduce its global headcount by thousands of jobs, sources familiar with the situation said. The layoffs could affect about 10 percent of its workforces in those markets, although the numbers for each subsidiary might vary, said one of the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Job cuts are planned for other overseas subsidiaries and could reach 10 percent in certain markets, the source said. The South Korean company has about 147,000 in staff overseas, more than half
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
An Indian factory producing iPhone components resumed work yesterday after a fire that halted production — the third blaze to disrupt Apple Inc’s local supply chain since the start of last year. Local industrial behemoth Tata Group’s plant in Tamil Nadu, which was shut down by the unexplained fire on Saturday, is a key linchpin of Apple’s nascent supply chain in the country. A spokesperson for subsidiary Tata Electronics Pvt yesterday said that the company would restart work in “many areas of the facility today.” “We’ve been working diligently since Saturday to support our team and to identify the cause of the fire,”
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
RSS