Dongkuk Steel, the second largest EAF steel producer in South Korea, has announced plans to increase prices of customised heavy plates by 30,000 won/tonne (t) ($25/t) from mid-Jan’22 to arrest its eroding profitability in Q1CY’22.
However, the company has also been trying to avoid the price hike considering the sluggish demand in the downstream industry in the second half of this year.
The decline in import prices of heavy plates has stalled lately. Also, domestic market inventories are significantly lower now compared to the levels seen in Q4CY’21.
Reasons for the price hike in heavy plates:
Iron ore prices rise to $125/t: Iron ore prices, which had fallen to $89.8/t on 19 Nov’21, increased to $125.05/t on 24 Dec’21. Iron ore prices had remained flat since the middle of this year but rebounded in December.
Australian coking coal up $31/t: Coking coal prices in Australia rose $31/t to $347.1/t on 24 Dec’21 compared to $315.9 on 3 Dec’21, according to the Korea Resources Information Service.
~Inputs from Steel Daily
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