China Steel Corp's Steel Price Lowers Again, Resulting in Polarized Reactions in the Downstream Industries

On November 26, China Steel Corp announced the domestic steel sales price for the period Jan.-Feb. of 2016, triggering polarized reactions in the downstream industries. Both the tube making and fastener industry recognize that the price drop of hot rolled products and wire rods is not as expected and therefore is not beneficial for order taking. However, the metal cutting industry and re-rolling industry recognize that the sale drop of hot-rolled products is acceptable and they expect to reduce material purchase cost. As for the fastener industry, although the fact that the average price per ton of wire rods drops by NTD 970 will reduce material purchase cost, the drop margin is smaller and thus is far behind the international level. This will make fastener companies less competitive and will not be beneficial to overseas order taking.