Posted on 22 Mar 2018
China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼) yesterday posted a 12 percent year-on-year increase in pre-tax net profit on a consolidated basis for the first two months of this year, buoyed by higher product prices.
Pre-tax profit amounted to NT$3.74 billion (US$128.2 million), compared with NT$3.34 billion in the first two months of last year, the nation’s largest steelmaker said in a statement.
The Kaohsiung-based firm in November last year announced that it would increase prices for domestic deliveries this quarter by 1.5 percent to reflect an uptrend in international steel prices.
On an annual basis, sales for the first two months jumped 17 percent, from NT$51.03 billion to NT$59.49 billion, but operating income dropped 3 percent, from NT$4.23 million to NT$4.12 billion, the statement said.
Shipments rose from 1.69 million tonnes to 1.74 million tonnes, company statistics showed.
The company said it is relatively conservative about its near-term business outlook, given the “black swan effect” in the global steel industry because of the US’ punitive tariffs on steel imports.
In other developments, China Steel Chemical Corp (中碳) chairman Lin Horng-nan (林弘男) might be tapped to succeed CSC president Liu Jih-gang (劉季剛), who is to retire by the end of this month.
CSC’s largest shareholder, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, has reportedly confirmed Lin’s appointment, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) said.
The steelmaker’s board of directors is scheduled to meet on Wednesday next week to vote on Liu’s successor and approve a dividend policy based on last year’s earnings.
