China Steel expects growth in automotive steel sector
time2017/09/28
- China Steel Corp , the nation’s biggest steelmaker, yesterday said it expects growth momentum in the automotive steel sector to pick up in the near term, supported by new model launches by major car brands.
China Steel expects growth in automotive steel sector
China Steel Corp (CSC, 中钢), the nation’s biggest steelmaker, yesterday said it expects growth momentum in the automotive steel sector to pick up in the near term, supported by new model launches by major car brands.
Most car bodies are built from steel and CSC is the most important provider of steel plates to the nation’s major automakers, a company official said by telephone, referring to Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽车) and Kuozui Motor Ltd (国瑞汽車).
CSC also supplies products to foreign customers, such as General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, and is an exclusive supplier of electric steel used in motors made by US-based electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The demand for steel plates in the automotive sector should grow in the coming years, he said, citing higher
technological requirements for the products.
Therefore, the company is considering expanding the production capacity of its car-related products next year, the official said, declining to elaborate.
Annually, CSC is capable of making nearly 1 million tonnes of steel products used in cars, the company’s statistics showed.
The company yesterday posted an 11 percent increase in pretax profit for last month to NT$1.45 billion (US$48 million) on a consolidated basis, due to better product prices compared with a year earlier, while operating profit rose 12 percent annually to NT$1.5 billion.
Revenue grew 8 percent annually to NT$30.63 billion, but shipments totaled 1,000,285 tonnes last month, staying flat from a year earlier, the company said in a statement.
CSC said it would at the end of next month announce its domestic steel prices for delivery in the first quarter of next year.
CSC on Wednesday appointed technology division vice president Ho Tsan-ying (何燦颖) as a consultant responsible for Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp (台塑河静钢铁兴业), a joint venture plant in Vietnam.
The appointment is part of CSC’s efforts to boost the development of its Vietnamese business, which is the largest foreign direct investment venture in that nation, and the company plans to reach its full operating capacity of 7 million tonnes there in 2019.