Posted on 16 Apr 2025
China Steel Corp (CSC), Taiwan's largest steel mill, has decided to hold its list prices of major steel products for local sales in May to reinforce market sentiment and to help downstream customers secure overseas orders, according to the company's latest release on its website on April 14.
After U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his so-called "reciprocal tariffs", the tax rates were much higher than market expectations, triggering wild swings in financial markets, disrupting global supply chains and dampening economic growth, CSC explained in the release.
Although Trump has suspended his "reciprocal" tariffs for 90 days for certain trading partners, uncertainties continue to cloud the market. Taiwan's economic growth may slow by 0.5-1.5% if the high U.S. tariffs are implemented, the release showed.
Despite the exemption of steel and aluminum imports from the latest "reciprocal" tariffs, prices of hot-rolled coil (HRC) in the U.S. remain elevated above $1,000/t, and ArcelorMittal, the world's second-largest steelmaker, had announced earlier this month it was hiking its HRC prices by $22/t, CSC noted.
Besides, prices of major steelmaking raw materials remain high, with the average price of iron ore hovering over $95-100/t, and that of coking coal staying over $175-185/t, lending some support to steel prices from the cost side.
Prices of finished steel in Asia are relatively stable. For local sales in May, Baoshan Iron & Steel Co, the listed arm of the world's top steelmaker China Baowu Steel Group, has decided to roll over its list prices of carbon steel HRC for a second month, as Mysteel Global reported.
Considering the uncertainties of U.S. tariffs, many steel end users in Taiwan are staying on the sidelines to monitor market changes. CSC said that it will keep tracking the policy evolution and will promote more support measures to help its downstream customers win more orders in the global market.
CSC's price adjustments of selected products for April and Q2 sales.
Product | Price Change (TWD/t) | Notes |
Hot-rolled coil | 0 | M-o-M |
Cold-rolled coil | 0 | M-o-M |
Electrolytic galvanized coil (construction) | 0 | M-o-M |
Hot-dipped galvanized coil (for construction) | 0 | M-o-M |
Hot-dipped galvanized coil (for white goods, computers etc.) | 0 | M-o-M |
Source: CSC
Source:Mysteel Global
