China Steel Corp (CSC), a leading steel mill in Taiwan, kept its monthly domestic finished steel sales prices for July deliveries unchanged from June. The COVID-19 situation and the resulting pressure on downstream industries kept the mill from raising prices. The announcement paused a price rally of twelve months.
For quarterly sales, the company has raised its third-quarter (Q3 2021) listed prices by TWD2,000-2,900/mt ($72-105/mt) to pass on the increased input costs due to bullish raw material prices. The quarterly prices were raised to follow the global trend in the steel market.
Prices of steel plates for the shipping industry would be raised by TWD2,000/mt, while prices of high-carbon hot-rolled steel plates, automotive steel, cold-rolled coils, and hot-rolled coils would be raised by TWD2,900/mt for the July-Sept quarter.
| CSC’s Q3’2021 domestic steel sales price hike | |
| Products | Change in TWD/mt on Q-o-Q |
| Plate | 2,000 to 2,500 |
| Bar and wire rod | 2,200 |
| HR & HR Plate | 2,900 |
| CR | 2,900 |
| EG | 2,900 |
| GI | 2,900 |
| Automotive usage | 2,900 |
CSC also plans to introduce the carbon surcharges for the export contracts starting next year.
Global economy recovers
The global economy is gradually improving as many countries have started lifting COVID-related lockdowns on increased vaccination rates. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development raised its forecast for global economic growth rate for 2021 to 5.8pc, which would be the strongest growth for the past 50 years. Infrastructure boost with the US and China governments announcing $1.7 trillion and CNY10.6 trillion investments, respectively, could keep steel demand bullish.
In Taiwan, according to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, the economic growth rate would reach 5.46pc in 2021, led by export. It is predicted that the annual merchandise exports will reach $415.6bn, an annual increase of 20.4pc.
International prices for iron ore and coal have reached a historical high recently, and bulk shipping costs have also surpassed a decade’s peak due to the increase in demand for raw materials. Despite the Chinese government’s intervention to keep prices under control, prices rebound on recovering steel demand.
Steelmaking costs have continued to soar, pushing global HRC to an all-time high. In Asia, amid a wide gap between Japanese domestic and international steel prices, Nippon Steel and Tokyo Steel announced the price increase for flat steel in July for domestic customers.
($1=TWD27.96)