| China Steel to raise domestic prices for the second time this year as demand improves |
| Taiwan - 2009 July 30 |
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China Steel Corp., Taiwan's largest maker of the metal, will increase domestic prices for the second time this year as demand improves. Prices will rise by an average of 9.4 percent in September, the Kaohsiung-based mill said in an e-mailed statement yesterday, following a 7 percent increase for July and August. Prices of hot-rolled coil, a benchmark product, will climb by an average NT$1,800 a metric ton in September, the company said, without giving a percentage gain. South Korea's Posco and China's Baosteel Group Corp. have also indicated the worst may be over for global steel demand. China Steel said this month it had a pretax profit of NT$774 million for the fiscal second-quarter ended June 30, and may post an operating profit this quarter. “Global steel prices are rising strongly, so we decided to raise the domestic prices,” the Taiwanese mill said in the statement yesterday. China Steel announced on June 10 an average price increase of 7 percent for July and August. China Steel advanced 3.5 percent to close at NT$29.3 in Taipei trading before the announcement, the biggest gain since June 2. The stock has climbed 32 percent this year, compared with a 56 percent gain in the benchmark TAIEX index. The company will raise plate prices by an average NT$1,517 a ton, bar and wire rods by NT$1,200 and cold-rolled steel by NT$1,588, according to the statement. It will raise electro-galvanized sheets by NT$2,500 a ton, electrical sheets by NT$2,870, and hot dipped zinc-galvanized sheets by NT$3,167. No percentage changes were given for the types of products in the statement. |
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