Posted on 29 Mar 2024
Carbon steel sales of China Steel Corp (CSC), Taiwan's top integrated steel producer, retreated in February, with the tonnage declining by 31,124 tonnes or 4.6% on month to 643,775 tonnes, according to the company's latest release on its website on Tuesday.
The decrease in its carbon steel sales led the company's pre-tax profit to slip accordingly last month to reach TWD 133 million ($4.2 million), falling by TWD 548 million from January, the release showed.
However, for the first two months of this year, CSC's total sales of carbon steel items showed a healthy gain at 1.32 million tonnes, higher by 102,496 tonnes or 7.8% on year, the Kaohsiung-based steelmaker said. Consequently, it posted a pre-tax profit of TWD 814 million, as against the huge loss of TWD 1.02 billion recorded during January-February last year, according to CSC.
Indeed, setting aside the retreat in February, the company's strong performance in steel sales and pre-tax profit during the two months stemmed from the decrease in the mill's steelmaking costs and the decision to increase the list prices of its major steel products, it explained in the release.
Going forward, CSC is optimistic about steel demand in the coming term, based on expectations for a further recovery in the global economy and local market conditions. For 2024, Taiwan's economic growth is expected to reach 3.43%, as against the rise of just 1.4% for 2023, the release points out.
Besides, the company has noted that China has rolled out more policies to support economic growth, aiming to achieve an on-year rise of 5% in its gross domestic product this year. In parallel, investment in Southeast Asia and India has been expanding, driven by local private investment and infrastructure development. These factors may boost steel demand to some extent, it suggested.
However, in order to help its end-user customers improve their competitiveness in global markets, CSC still decided to roll over the list prices of its carbon steel items for local sales in April, as reported.
Source:Mysteel Global
