Posted on 23 Dec 2024
China Steel Corp (CSC), Taiwan's largest steel mill, has decided to keep the list prices of its major steel products unchanged for local sales in January, with those of its quarterly priced products also rolled over for transactions in the first quarter of 2025, according to the company's latest release on its website.
The decision is intended to help its customers stabilize their purchasing costs, as the first quarter is usually a slow period for Taiwan's steel industry, with the long public holiday for Chinese New Year in the middle. Besides, many market participants are staying on the sidelines to monitor any market changes arising from new Trump administration's policies, CSC said in the release.
However, the Kaohsiung-headquartered steel giant observes that the global steel market has been gradually recovering with the improvement in the world's economy. Inflation in the Europe and North America have eased to some extent, and the impact of higher interest rates on the economy has diminished with the interest-rate cuts.
The latest forecast of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in December showed that the global economy may grow by 3.3% in 2025, higher than the previous forecast of 3.2% issued in September. For 2025, Taiwan's economic growth is estimated to reach 3.29% thanks to better performing local and overseas markets, CSC noted.
Moreover, manufacturing industries on the Chinese mainland are performing well, with the Purchasing Managers' Index for this sector staying in the expansion zone for the second month in November to stand at 50.3, up by another 0.2 point on month. Meanwhile, Beijing has decided to implement more monetary and fiscal policies in 2025 to boost consumption and expand domestic demand, which may lend some support to the steel industry, according to the release.
On the supply side, China's crude steel output slipped by 2.7% on year to reach 929 million tonnes over this year's first eleven months and finished steel inventories at traders' warehouses monitored by the China Iron and Steel Association had slipped to 7.76 million tonnes as of December 10. This was lower by 11.8% from the same period last year and marked the lowest since 2020, suggesting relatively tight steel supply, the company pointed out.
In parallel, steel prices may gain some support from the cost side, as the prices of major steelmaking raw materials such as iron ore and coal remain stable, CSC predicted in the release.
Finished steel prices in Chinese mainland remained firm with the government's stimulus policies. Baoshan Iron & Steel Co, the listed arm of the world's top steelmaker China Baowu Steel Group, has decided to hold the list prices of its carbon steel HRC for local sales in January, as Mysteel Global reported.
CSC's price adjustments of selected products for January and Q1 sales.
Product | Price Change (TWD/t) | Notes |
Heavy plate (for shipbuilding) | 0 | Q-o-Q |
Bar & Wire rod | 0 | Q-o-Q |
Hot-rolled coil | 0 | M-o-M |
Cold-rolled coil | 0 | M-o-M |
Electrolytic galvanized coil (construction) | 0 | M-o-M |
Electrical steel coil | 0 | M-o-M |
Hot-dipped galvanized coil (for white goods, computers etc.) | 0 | M-o-M |
Source: CSC
Source:Mysteel Global
