Posted on 27 Jul 2023
Total sales of carbon steel items recorded in June by China Steel Corp (CSC), Taiwan's top integrated steel producer, recovered somewhat from May, with the tonnage up by 30,890 tonnes or 5% on month at 647,556 tonnes, according to the company's latest release published on July 25.
The on-month rise in CSC's carbon steel sales indicated that steel demand among Taiwan's local customers and overseas buyers recovered last month.
However, the company's sales volume remained at a low level, with the tonnage for June being 19.8% lower compared one year earlier due to the slower-than-expected growth in the global economy, the release showed.
The steel giant headquartered in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan lost money in June due to the still-weak performance of its carbon steel sales, with the pre-tax loss reaching TWD 35 million ($1.1 million) as against its pre-tax profits of TWD 850 million achieved during the prior month.
Another reason the mill cited for its loss last month was the fact that CSC had lowered its list prices of major steel products by TWD 1,000-2,000/t for sales in June to reflect the price trend in global steel markets and the weakness of steel demand, Mysteel Global learned.
For the first six months of this year, CSC's total carbon steel sales reached 3.86 million tonnes, falling by 821,327 tonnes or 17.6% compared with the same period last year, while its total pre-tax profits registered TWD 1.68 billion, slumping by TWD 27.2 billion or 94% on year, according to CSC's release.
However, the company believes that steel demand during the current half of this year will improve gradually thanks to the recovery in manufacturing sectors.
These hopes led CSC to decide to raise its list prices for hot-rolled and cold-rolled coils for August sales to offset higher costs of steelmaking raw materials, as Mysteel Global reported.
Source:Mysteel Global
