China Steel Corp (中鋼) yesterday announced that it would keep domestic steel prices unchanged for deliveries next month to comply with changes in international markets and customer needs.
The decision to stay put following four consecutive months of price hikes came as the firm took customers’ inventory write-down expenses into account, the nation’s largest steelmaker said in a statement. carbon steel pipes 18 inch
China Steel said that in the second quarter, it would only raise prices of steel plates used in vessels, and A36 and SS400 steel plates used in structural applications by NT$300 (US$9.5) per tonne, leaving the rest unchanged.
The firm reached the decision after considering several factors, including domestic downstream customers’ actual demand and order-taking schedule, and the steel market’s tepid recovery and confidence toward the economic outlook, it said.
China Steel expects steel demand to pick up after May and believes that potential US interest rate cuts starting from June would be a shot in the arm for the industry, it said.
“Cutting interest rates will promote investment, drive consumption and refresh the economy. It will be helpful for the real-estate market, and machinery equipment and vehicle sales, and it will also drive the demand for steel,” China Steel said.
The firm said the overall steel market remains stable in terms of supply-demand dynamics and is expected to show sequential improvement in the coming quarters.
On the other hand, global steel prices are expected to rise in the second quarter following consolidation in the first quarter, China Steel said.
Prices have shown signs of a turnaround, the firm said, citing announcements by US steelmakers Cleveland-Cliffs Inc and Nucor Corp on Thursday last week to raise hot-rolled steel prices by US$28 to US$44 per tonne, along with the 10th consecutive price increase next month for high-carbon hot-rolled steel coils by China’s Baowu Steel Group Ltd (寶武鋼鐵).
China Steel on Monday reported that consolidated revenue in the first two months of this year increased 5.91 percent year-on-year to NT$60.89 billion.
Shipments reached 1.93 million tonnes in the first two months, the company said, adding that it expects 2.7 million to 2.8 million tonnes of shipments in the first quarter and an even higher amount in the second quarter as the industry enters a peak season.
HANDOVER POLICY: Approving the probe means that the new US administration of Donald Trump is likely to have the option to impose trade restrictions on China US President Joe Biden’s administration is set to initiate a trade investigation into Chinese semiconductors in the coming days as part of a push to reduce reliance on a technology that US officials believe poses national security risks. The probe could result in tariffs or other measures to restrict imports on older-model semiconductors and the products containing them, including medical devices, vehicles, smartphones and weaponry, people familiar with the matter said. The investigation examining so-called foundational chips could take months to conclude, meaning that any reaction to the findings would be left to the discretion of US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming team. Biden
In a patch of South America rich in lithium, used to make batteries for electric cars and other tech, Bolivia is lagging its neighbors in the race to mine the key metal. An area called the “lithium triangle” which spills over the borders of Bolivia, Chile and Argentina is home to 60 percent of the world’s lithium reserves, according to the US Geological Survey. Bolivia claims to have Earth’s largest deposit of the metal, used to make rechargeable batteries for smartphones, laptops and other devices besides e-vehicles. However, Bolivia has undertaken only four pilot projects and is running just one
INVESTMENT: Jun Seki, chief strategy officer for Hon Hai’s EV arm, and his team are currently in talks in France with Renault, Nissan’s 36 percent shareholder Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the iPhone maker known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally, is in talks with Nissan Motor Co’s biggest shareholder Renault SA about its willingness to sell its shares in the Japanese automaker, the Central News Agency (CNA) said, citing people it did not identify. Nissan and fellow Japanese automaker, Honda Motor Co, are exploring a merger that would create a rival to Toyota Motor Corp in Japan and better position the combined company to face competitive challenges around the world, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. However, one potential spanner in the works is
carbon steel checkered plate Not long after dawn, Japanese sake brewer Mie Takahashi checks the temperature of the mixture fermenting at her family’s 150-year-old sake brewery, Koten, nestled in the foothills of the Japanese Alps. She stands on an uneven narrow wooden platform over a massive tank containing more than 3,000 liters of a bubbling soup of steamed rice, water and a rice mold known as koji, and gives it a good mix with a long paddle. “The morning hours are crucial in sake making,” Takahashi, 43, said. Her brewery is in Nagano Prefecture, a region known for its sake making. Takahashi is one