INTERNATIONAL MARKETS:The price increases reflected strong demand overseas, particularly for electrical steel, prices of which are to increase NT$2,600 per tonne

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 25, 2017
By: Kuo Chia-erh / Staff reporter

China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼) yesterday raised steel prices by 6.9 percent for deliveries in the second quarter of this year to reflect soaring raw material costs.

The nation’s largest steelmaker said in a statement that it would raise the prices for all products by an average of NT$1,396 per tonne, with an increase of NT$1,495 per tonne for benchmark hot-rolled steel products and a rise of NT$1,600 per tonne for hot-dipped galvanized steel items.

“The price hikes are in line with an upward trend in raw material prices,” executive vice president Wang Shyi-chin (王錫欽) said by telephone, referring to increases in major steelmaking feedstock, such as coking coal and iron ore.

Most of the Kaohsiung-based firm’s Asian rivals, including in Japan and China, have raised prices in response to surging production costs, the company said.[FULL  STORY]