China Steel to increase domestic prices

China Steel to increase domestic prices

Taiwanese mill China Steel is planning to increase its domestic sale prices of steel products for the fourth quarter to keep pace with the increasing prices in the US, Europe, Japan and China. While, the increase in the prices is planned to be from NTD284 ($8.30) per ton to NTD500 ($14.73) per ton for wire rod, the increase in the prices of hot rolled steel, used for pipes and tubes will be an average NTD373 ($11) per ton. The average price of cold rolled steel, used for making auto frames, home appliances or processed into galvanized steel sheets is planned to increase by NTD369 ($10.9) per ton. According to China Steel's latest reported base sales prices in Q1 of 2002, the mill, which sells about 70% of products at home has increased its hot rolled and cold rolled steel prices by 40% since Q2 of 2002. According to the statistics, China's import of steel, used in making cars and construction with an increase of 55% has amounted up to 22 million tons in the first seven months of 2003. The increase of steel demand in China, that is related with the construction of the area for 2008 Olympic Games has great effect on the increase in the international steel prices.