Posted on 20 Mar 2023
China Steel Corp (CSC), Taiwan's largest steel mill headquartered in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, has decided to raise the list prices of its major steel products by TWD 800-2,000/tonne ($26-65/t) for sales in the second quarter, mainly due to higher production costs and the better expectations of demand in the coming term, according to a company release on March 16.
Considering the higher prices of steelmaking raw materials including iron ore, coal and alloys such as nickel, molybdenum and vanadium, the integrated steel mill has had to raise its steel list prices further to partly offset the climb in production costs, CSC explained in the release.
Meanwhile, steel demand in local and overseas markets is expected to improve in the months ahead as traditionally, Q2 is the peak season for steel consumption, CSC said.
For February, Taiwan's Purchasing Managers' Index for the manufacturing industry had recovered to 51.4, returning to the expansion zone after struggling in the contraction zone for seven months. Besides, Taiwan's local government has decided to increase investments in public construction to boost economic growth.
As for China, the central government will continue to take measures to revitalize the property market, and to boost sales of automobiles and while goods to expand domestic demand, the company noted.
Global auto production and sales may increase this year thanks to the easing of the shortage of auto chips and other components, and the total sales may grow by 6% on year to 85.8 million units this year, the company said, quoting a forecast from LMC Automotive.
CSC believes that global steel supply may remain tight in the near term, as production among steelmakers in Europe and the Americas has not fully recovered after the reduction last year, and demand from Turkey may keep firm due to reconstruction demand after the earthquake in early February.
Steel prices globally experienced a significant rise in the first quarter of this year. For example, prices of hot-rolled coil in the U.S. have exceeded $1,250/t, and HRC prices in Europe have also surged by $180/t from the end of last December, according to CSC's release.
Baoshan Iron & Steel Co, the listed arm of the world's largest steelmaker China Baowu Steel Group, has decided to add another Yuan 200/tonne ($29/t) to its list prices of carbon steel hot-rolled coil for domestic sales in April, which also encouraged the steel giant in Taiwan to lift its list prices accordingly, Mysteel Global learned.
Source:Mysteel Global
