Taiwan's CSC further raises steel list prices for March sales

China Steel Corp (CSC), Taiwan's largest steel mill headquartered in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, has decided to hike its list prices of major steel products by another TWD 600-1,200/tonne ($20-40/t) for local sales in March, thanks to expectations of better demand and rising steel prices in the global market, according to a company release on February 15.

Steel demand in the global market may recover gradually with the improvement in global economy and the coming peak season for steel consumption, CSC pointed out in the release.

"Global inflation has cooled somewhat, and adverse impacts of the tensions between Russia and Ukraine have moderated, leading to a decline in energy prices and accelerating economic recovery in U.S. and Europe," CSC explained.

Manufacturing industries in major economies have returned to the expansion zone, and China's a series of measures to revitalize economy may boost the release of rigid and replenishment demand for steel, the company added.

The International Monetary Fund's latest forecast showed that the global economy is expected to grow by 2.9% on year in 2023, up from the previous forecast of 2.7% in last October, and the economic growth in China may reach 5.2% this year, much higher than the 3% growth in 2022.

Steel demand from Europe is expected to grow as the exports from Turkey may decrease. The country's steel products are preferentially to be used to meet local demand after the severe earthquake struck the country on February 6, which interrupted the transport and normal operations of local steelmakers.

Besides, global steel supply is likely to remain tight this year, CSC noted. World Steel Dynamics (WSD) estimated that global crude steel output may decrease further by another 1.5% on year to 1.82 billion tonnes in 2023.

Global steel prices are expected to grow on support of firm steelmaking costs with higher prices of iron ore and coking coal. For example, the hot-rolled coil price in the U.S. has jumped by $210/t from the low level in last November, and that in the Europe has increased by $160/t during that period.

Major steel producers worldwide have raised their list prices for sales in March, which also encouraged the steel giant in Taiwan to lift its list prices accordingly, Mysteel Global learned.

For example, Baoshan Iron & Steel Co, the listed arm of the world's largest steelmaker China Baowu Steel Group, has decided to add Yuan 200-300/tonne ($29.2-43.7/t) to its list prices of carbon steel hot-rolled coil for domestic sales in March, as reported.

Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com

Edited by Alyssa Ren, rentingting@mysteel.com

Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.