China's Baoshan Iron & Steel said on Monday it would
raise prices for some main steel products for January bookings, signalling that
steel demand may improve at the start of 2012.
The company plans to keep hot-rolled coil prices flat but
will raise cold-rolled coil by 100 yuan ($16)/MT and some electro galvanised
steel prices by 100-200 yuan/MT, after it cut main steel product prices by
200-300 yuan in December from November.
“The price increase is not big as demand from either auto
or house appliances remain thin and end users don't have any incentives to make
large bookings, but I expect demand to pick up modestly in the first
quarter,” said Hu Yanping, an analyst .
“Baosteel offered very low prices for cold-rolled coil
in December bookings, while production cost remained high, so the firm raised
the price,” she added.
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