Posted on 21 Sep 2023
During August, total sales of carbon steel items recorded by China Steel Corp (CSC), Taiwan's top integrated steel producer, recovered after the decrease in July, with the volume surging by 95,278 tonnes or 15.6% on month to reach 705,951 tonnes, according to the company's latest performance figures released on Tuesday. The August total was the highest since last September, CSC noted.
The significant on-month rise suggested that local and overseas steel demand gained from the gradual recovery in the global economy, CSC observed.
"The steel industry has been in a cyclical trough since the second half of last year, but now destocking in the manufacturing sector is at the final phase," CSC pointed out in the release, indicating its optimism about steel demand going forward.
With carbon steel sales performing better, the Kaohsiung-based steel giant in southern Taiwan achieved a pre-tax profit of TWD 42 million ($1.3 million) in August, in sharp contrast to the pre-tax loss of TWD 401 million it posted for July, as reported.
In parallel, the company had lifted the list prices of its major steel products for August sales, which also contributed to the growth in its profits, Mysteel Global notes.
For the first eight months of this year, CSC's total carbon steel sales reached 5.17 million tonnes, the release showed. This was still lower by 896,089 tonnes on year, but the on-year decrease had slowed to 14.8% thanks to the recovery in August sales.
Over January-August, the company's total pre-tax profits registered TWD 1.32 billion, slumping by TWD 30.5 billion or 96% compared with the same period last year, according to the release.
Earlier, CSC had hiked list prices of major steel items by another TWD 500/t for sales in October, partly to offset higher production costs but also showing its confidence that steel demand will improve further, as reported.
Source:Mysteel Global
