Posted on 21 Jun 2023
China Steel Corp (CSC), Taiwan's largest steel mill headquartered in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, has decided to cut the list prices of its major steel products for July sales, according to a company release on June 19. The integrated maker's prices of its quarterly-priced products for sales during the third quarter have been lowered accordingly to reflect the price trend in the global market.
"The recovery in the global steel market failed to meet expectations in the second quarter of this year, leading to a substantial fall in global steel prices," CSC pointed out in the release.
Considering the high-cost steel inventories held by its customers, the steel giant decided to cut its July list prices to help customers improve their competitiveness in the global market.
However, CSC believes that steel prices will bottom out during the coming month, and demand is expected to recover gradually, fuelled by hopes that the global economy will perform better in the second half of this year.
The World Bank's latest forecast issued earlier this month said the global economy is expected to grow by 2.1% on year in 2023, higher than the previous forecast of 1.7%, the company noted. Also, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has lifted its forecast for global economic growth to 2.7% from the previous 2.6%.
During the second half of this year, mainland China may accelerate infrastructure construction and further unwind controls on the property market to support economic growth, moves that are expected to boost steel demand significantly. In parallel, the local government in Taiwan has also taken many measures to promote a recovery of steel demand, the company release showed.
For this year, global steel demand is expected to increase by 40.8 million tonnes or 2.3% on year to 1.82 billion tonnes, CSC said, quoting a forecast from the World Steel Association.
Besides, the reduction in China's steel production may help to ease the supply-side pressure. In May, China's crude steel output decreased to 90.1 million tonnes, down 6% compared with the year's high in March, and steel inventories also kept steadily falling, CSC said in the release.
Steel prices in China have shown some signs of stabilizing, boosting market confidence. For sales in July, Baoshan Iron & Steel Co, the listed-arm of the world's largest steelmaker China Baowu Steel Group, has decided to hold the list prices of its carbon steel hot-rolled coil for local business, as reported.
CSC's price adjustments of selected products for July and Q3 sales
Product | Price Change (TWD/t) | Notes |
Heavy plate (for shipbuilding) | -2,000 | Q-o-Q |
Bar & Wire rod | -2,000 | Q-o-Q |
Hot-rolled coil | -1,200 | M-o-M |
Cold-rolled coil | -1,500 | M-o-M |
Electrolytic galvanized coil (fingerprint resistant/construction) | -1,000 | M-o-M |
Electrical steel coil | -1,000 | M-o-M |
Hot-dipped galvanized coil (for white goods, computers etc.) | -1,000 | M-o-M |
Source: CSC
Source:Mysteel Global
