Taiwanese steelmaker CSC’s carbon steel sales volume fell to 8,78,997mt in March, down by 8.6pc from the prior year. In Q1 (January-March) sales volume dropped to 2.49mn mt, down by 8.7pc from Q1 2020, according to the company’s preliminary results for March.
Despite a drop in sales, CSC’s profits improved on higher steel prices, which the company attributed to a recovery in the steel market. CSC’s March operating revenues rose by 22.5pc to TWD36.89bn ($1.31bn) from January, while consolidated income before tax rose by 46pc from February to TWD5.63bn on improved steel prices.
In Q1, operating revenues improved by 26pc from the prior year to TWD97.82bn. CSC’s consolidated income before tax in Q1 rose exponentially to TWD13.09bn compared to a loss of TWD 2.56bn in the prior year.
In March, CSC raised its steel prices by 1.7pc on average for April shipment and by 8.3pc on average for Q2 shipments citing higher raw material cost. Amid a recovery in steel demand led by China, steel prices are expected to remain high due to production curbs in some regions of China including Tangshan and higher iron ore and scrap prices as the rest of the steelmaking world responds to improving domestic demand.