Posted on 26 Aug 2008
Baosteel, the listed unit of the country’s largest steel
mill, lowered cold-rolled steel product prices by 300 yuan from the third
quarter, while hot-rolled steel product prices remained unchanged, the sources
said.
“Baosteel’s pricing is within the market’s expectations. We
have already seen weak demand for cold-rolled coil due to a slowdown in the
auto and home appliance industries,” one trader said. “As the company’s sales
volume of hot-rolled steel is not that big, I think the unchanged price will
have limited impact on the company and the market.”
Its cold-rolled steel, excluding value-added tax, was 6,496
yuan (US$949.30) a tonne for September, while the price for hot-rolled steel
was 5,742 yuan, traders said, citing offers from the company.
Baosteel did not announce its price changes for the third
quarter and a Baosteel official told Reuters on Friday the company also may not
publish uniform steel product prices for the fourth quarter.
Traders have said Baosteel recently began adjusting its
quarterly offer prices each month to more closely reflect market conditions.
The trade sources said the latest price reduction for
cold-rolled steel would also narrow a long-standing gap between Baosteel’s
sales prices and market prices, as competition in the industry intensifies.
