China Steel to raise domestic prices 18%
China Steel Corp., Taiwan’s biggest maker of the alloy, will raise prices by an average 18 percent in the third quarter to cover rising raw material costs.
The company will increase prices of hot-rolled steel, a benchmark product, by an average NT$4,500 a metric ton, China Steel said an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Global mills, including Baosteel Group Corp., are passing on higher raw material costs through price increases. The Taiwanese company agreed in February to pay 65 percent more for iron ore, a main raw material in steel. Prices of coking coal, another key ingredient, may rise 50 percent more than forecast next year, according to UBS AG.
“We’re reflecting higher international prices,” spokesman Chung Le-min said by phone from Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, where the company is based. The price changes “can barely cover” costs, he said.
China Steel fell 0.4 percent to NT$52.1 in Taipei, before the statement. The stock has climbed 20 percent this year, compared with the 2.1 percent gain on the benchmark TAIEX Index.
Hot-rolled steel is used to make cold-rolled steel, which is used with zinc-galvanized sheets in car bodies and appliances.
China Steel will raise prices of steel plates by an average NT$4,310 a ton, bar and wire rods by NT$4,830 a ton and cold-rolled steel by NT$4,320, according to the statement. Chung said prices will climb by an average 18 percent.
The company will increase the prices of electro-galvanized sheets by NT$4,000 a ton, of electrical sheets by NT$5,000 a ton, and of hot-dipped zinc-galvanized sheets by NT$4,050.
The price of hard coking coal, used to make steel, may increase to US$300 a metric ton for the Japanese financial year beginning April 1, 2009, UBS said in a report on May 27. The previous forecast was US$200 a ton. Taiwan buyers typically use prices their competitors in Japan pay as benchmarks.
Baosteel, China’s biggest steelmaker, will raise prices for the quarter starting July 1 in line with global increases, Chairman Xu Lejiang said in Beijing Wednesday.
Tags: Baosteel, iron-ore, material, steel