China Steel Corp pre-tax profit rises on soaring prices

China Steel Corp yesterday posted a 130.37 percent surge in pretax profit on a consolidated basis for last year, due to improving sentiment in global steel markets and soaring international steel prices.

Pretax profit surged to NT$21.9 billion (US$698.34 million) last year, compared with NT$9.51 billion in 2015, the nation’s only integrated steelmaker said in a statement.

Operating profit last year skyrocketed 213.36 percent from NT$8.12 billion in 2015 to NT$25.4 billion, company data showed.

Shipments totaled 11.13 million tonnes, a 16.8 percent increase from 9.53 million tonnes a year earlier.

CSC chairman Wong Chao-tung last week provided an optimistic business outlook for this year, with the Chinese-Language United Daily News quoting him as saying that global steel prices were expected to remain high in the current quarter.

The Kaohsiung-based steelmaker said that it would raise steel prices by 12.6 percent for deliveries this quarter, due to rising costs.

Among CSC’s major products, the price of benchmark hot-rolled items is to increase by NT$2,265 per tonne, while the price of hot-dipped galvanized steel is to rise by NT$1,909 per tonne.

The company is to announce steel prices for the second quarter by the end of this month.

In related news, state-run oil refiner CPC Corp, Taiwan yesterday announced that it would not change its prices for liquefied petroleum gas and liquefied natural gas this month, in an effort to ensure the stability of commodity prices following the Lunar New Year holiday.

CPC said that it would absorb rising material prices this month and reflect the increases in subsequent months.

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