Baosteel announces Q4 price reductions

Baosteel announces Q4 price reductions

Chinese steelmaker Baosteel released on Tuesday (August 23) its price policy for the fourth quarter of 2005. Compared to the third quarter, Baosteel slashed prices for common hot rolled products (SS400) by RMB 800/ton ($100/ton). This reduction makes the fourth-quarter price for 3.0*1250*C non-finished coil RMB 4'084/ton ($504/ton). Prices were lowered RMB 600/ton ($74/ton) for specialty steel and hot rolled pickling, while common cold rolled sheet saw prices reduced RMB 200/ton ($25/ton). Baosteel reduced prices of its DC01/SPCC spec cold rolled products by RMB 500/ton ($62/ton), bringing the price for 1.0*1000 size to RMB 5'386/ton ($665/ton). Prices were decreased RMB 1'000/ton ($125/ton) for non-annealed cold rolled products, RMB 800/ton ($100/ton) for electric steel, RMB 500/ton ($62/ton) for color coated sheet, RMB 300/ton ($37/ton) for electro-galvanized products, and RMB 200/ton ($25/ton) for hot dip galvanized products. All of the above-mentioned prices exclude tax; dollar figures are approximations based on the exchange rate of August 23. $1 = RMB 8.10560