Taipei Times reported that China Steel Corporation raised its domestic prices for April and May shipments by an average of 0.37% compared with March shipments on expectations that demand will rise.

Mr Liu Jih gang VP for sales of China Steel said that “Although demand in Taiwan has remained low this month, we believe it is a short-term phenomenon and market sentiment will improve significantly next quarter, which is the peak season for the industry.”

Mr Liu said that “The nation’s biggest steelmaker expects a recovering US economy will spur demand, given that warmer weather next quarter will help boost housing construction starts. China only increased its daily steel output by 0.5% to 2.06 million tonnes this month, compared with 1.96 million tonnes last month which is not enough to meet rising demand.”

He said that China Steel also expects steel price hikes to be sustained next quarter as rising raw material costs would give steelmakers little leeway for pricing. The company’s shipments are expected to increase 2.75% sequentially to 2.99 million tonnes this quarter and to rise to 3.06 million tonnes next quarter. Shipments this quarter grew 4.18% from 2.87 million tonnes last quarter to 2.91 million tonnes.