UPDATE: China Steel January Unaudited Pretax Profit NT$4.18 Billion
09 2월 2010 - 6:40PM
Dow Jones News
China Steel Corp. (2002.TW), Taiwan's largest steel producer by
revenue, Tuesday said its unaudited pretax profit in January more
than tripled from a year earlier to NT$4.18 billion (US$130.3
million), as its revenue soared to over one year high.
The company didn't give a profit figure for the same month a
year earlier, when the global economic downturn battered demand for
steel.
"The first quarter last year was horrible," said Executive Vice
President L.M. Chung.
Revenue in January rose 80% to NT$18.54 billion from NT$10.29
billion a year earlier, the company said. It was the highest
monthly revenue since NT$24.62 billion in October 2008.
Chung said the company's revenue in February will fall slightly
because the Lunar New Year holiday, this year lasting from Feb. 13
through Feb. 19, will reduce the number of working days.
"But we will continue delivering products for exports and will
give incentives to local customers to pick up goods earlier," said
Chung.
Separately, Chung said the company has begun annual talks with
iron ore and coal suppliers, adding ore prices will likely be
raised by at least 30% from last year because of the dominant
industry position of iron ore miners, though no party has finalized
this year's prices yet.
The global iron ore industry is dominated by Brazilian miner
Vale S.A. (VALE) and Anglo-Australian diversified miners BHP
Billiton Ltd. (BHP) and Rio Tinto PLC (RTP).
Suppliers have suggested to shift to semiannual or quarterly
price adjustments, "with the longer the contract, the higher the
price," said Chung. "That was they can hike prices more often."
-By Alex Pevzner, Dow Jones Newswires; 8862-2502-2557;
alex.pevzner@dowjones.com