Baoshan Iron & Steel Co will raise its prices more than 6 percent for shipments in the third quarter from the previous three-month period to catch up with global levels, it said yesterday.

 

"Steel prices in China are low compared to the global market and have room to catch up," the country's top steelmaker said in a document to clients.

 

The company's monthly adjusted prices are regarded as a benchmark in the domestic steel industry.

 

Prices of cold-rolled steel will rise to 4,796 yuan (US$599.50) per ton in the third quarter from 4,496 yuan a ton in the second quarter. Hot-rolled steel will climb from 3,642 yuan to 3,942 yuan per ton.

 

Steel prices in China didn't recover until the second quarter since they began tumbling in April 2005 as a result of a nationwide glut.

 

"Our prices are gradually returning to a rational level after a sharp decline in the first quarter and an appropriate rebound in the second," Baoshan Steel said yesterday.

 

Still, the company said the prices of its key products were US$100 to US$200 a ton lower than those in America and Europe, and US$50 to US$80 less than those in Japan and South Korea.

 

(Shanghai Daily May 24, 2006)