Major Taiwanese steel producer China Steel Corporation (CSC) has announced that it will decrease local prices for major flat steel products for the first quarter of 2020, even despite the uptrend seen in the international market and optimistic expectations for the coming months.
The average price decrease is 3.03 percent compared to the fourth quarter, when the producer decided to leave most prices unchanged. The hot rolled coil (HRC) prices of CSC have decreased the most, by NTD 1,187/mt (39/mt), while plates, CRC and HDG quotations have lost NTD 1,174/mt ($38/mt), NTD 1,000/mt ($33/mt) and NTD 1,078/mt ($35/mt) respectively. Long steel prices for the first quarter have declined by NTD 1,000/mt ($33/mt).
“The price decision will help narrow the price gap between the published price announced quarterly and the international market price,” the company said in the statement. CSC added that the first quarter is the traditional off-season, and the local domestic prices may lead to downstream customers restocking and enhancing their export competitiveness.
$1 = NTD 30.5287