China Steel Corp (中鋼), the largest steelmaker in Taiwan, yesterday said that it would raise prices moderately for some products and leave others flat for domestic deliveries next month.
The Kaohsiung-based steelmaker said it is to increase prices for cold and hot-rolled steel by NT$300 per tonne and keep prices unchanged for electrical steel, electro-galvanized steel sheets and other products.
The decisions came after a monthly price review to reflect the latest industrial and economic outlook at home and abroad, it said.
Photo courtesy of China Steel Corp
China Steel cited the IMF as saying that the world economy might expand 3.1 percent this year, from a 2.9 percent uptick last year, with the US to maintain a mild increase and Europe to emerge from a recession.
Regionally, China’s stimulus measures would lend support to its fragile economy and Taiwan’s exports would resume growth momentum, allowing the nation’s GDP growth to accelerate from 1.4 percent to 3.15 percent, the steelmaker said.
The trends are positive for steel demand as evidenced by last month’s healthy purchasing managers’ index in the US and the eased downturn in China, it said.
Beijing is encouraging investment to speed up urban renewal, social housing and infrastructure projects, boding well for the steel industry, it said.
Auto industry intelligence provider MarkLines is looking at a 2.7 percent increase in global vehicle sales from last year to 9.23 million this year, which is favorable for steel used in vehicles, it added.
As for steel supply, China’s steel stock and output last month dropped 26 percent and 23.3 percent year-on-year due to the market’s crude steel controls and output restrictions aimed at winter environment protections, it said, adding that the tightening measures explained why crude steel productions in December fell 14.9 percent to a seven-year low.
Furthermore, South Korea’s POSCO, one of the world’s largest steelmakers, is conducting annual maintenance this month and would cut its output by 1 million tonnes, it said.
Data compiled by the World Steel Association showed that crude steel production in December fell 5.3 percent for the 10th straight month to 135.7 million tonnes, positive for the steel market moving forward, it said.
As for raw material prices, iron ore last month cost about US$120 to US$130 per tonne while coking coal hovered at about US$310 to US$320 per tonne, relatively high to buttress steel prices, China Steel said, adding that the local currency’s earlier depreciation against the US dollar helped drive up prices for imports.
China Steel said it exercised restraint in pricing after taking into consideration the competitiveness of domestic firms downstream.
The pickup in steel prices is likely to be sustained given that first-tier peers POSCO this month raised its hot-rolled steel by US$38 per tonne, Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp increased by US$34 per tonne and China’s Baowu Steel Group Croup (寶武鋼鐵) hiked prices by US$14 per tonne, it said.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday. That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers’ moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp’s expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design. The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
RSS