OREANDA-NEWS. May 03, 2011. China Steel Corporation (CSC) held the domestic pricing meeting for 2011 June shipments and announced the following statement: According to the analysis by IMF, the political disorder in the Middle East region and the earthquake in Japan will only have short term effects on the global economic growth, which is still estimated at 4.5%, reported the press-centre of China Steel Corporation.

Currently, raw material spot prices return to the high level because of rising oil prices, increasing demand from China and decreasing inventory. According to the WSD, worldwide tier 1 steel mills will still have high material costs in the 2nd quarter and steel prices will remain at high levels. While the global economy growth keeps momentum, elevated material cost and steel using industries going into high season will most likely to continue driving up the global steel prices.

CSC also faces pressure from the increase of raw material cost, which is estimated at USD150~170/MT in the 1st half of 2011. However, the effect of earthquake in Japan on the steel market is still unclear, in order to maintain the competitiveness of downstream industries in recent NTD appreciation, CSC has decided to only raise EG sheets prices and keep other products’ prices the same.