Taiwan's CSC lifts flats prices to Japan for May-July

China Steel Corp (CSC), the top steel producer headquartered in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, has decided to add Yen 15,000-20,000/tonne ($122-163/t) to its flat steel prices to Japan for May-July shipments, Mysteel Global has learned. The integrated mill says the increase is to transfer the rise in its production costs.

The products affected will include hot-rolled coils (HRC), cold-rolled coils (CRC) and plates, a CSC official in Osaka shared on March 28. CSC had previously added as much as Yen 40,000/t for August-October shipments last year but had kept prices unchanged for November to April, as reported. Traditionally, CSC sells its flats to Japanese customers priced in yen.

The flats volume to be allocated for Japan will be largely unchanged from the present February-April quarter, the official added. Though he declined to reveal the company's exact export prices for Japan, in previous quarters, CSC was targeting around Yen 110,000-120,000/t CFR for HRC exports to Japan, as reported.

A Tokyo-based flat steel trader observed that CSC's rise had been expected because South Korea's Posco, another key overseas flat supplier to Japan, had already decided to add Yen 10,000/t for next quarter. "The increment CSC is adding is larger, but most steel producers are warning that additional hikes are likely, so the total rise (in CSC's price) across all of May through July will probably total about the same as for other mills," he explained.

The latest data from Trade Statistics of Japan showed that Japan imported 33,706 tonnes of hot coils from Taiwan in January, down 12.7% on year but up 3.1% on month. Those of CRC totaled 11,515 tonnes, down 2.6% on year and 27.1% lower on month.

The average import price for Taiwan-origin HRC in January was Yen 112,381/t CIF, down Yen 1,608/t from December, while that for CRC was Yen 125,548/t CIF, up Yen 926/t on month, Mysteel Global calculated based on the data.

Meanwhile, CSC had already decided to lift list prices of its major steel products for domestic customers by TWD1,000-2,400/t ($35-84/t) for sales during April-June, also to partially to reflect higher production costs, as reported.

Written by Yoko Manabe, yoko.manabe@mysteel.com

This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.