Saturday, January 24, 2009
Reuters - Saturday, January 24TAIPEI, Jan 24 - China Steel Corp <2002.TW>, Taiwan's top steel maker, reported its first-ever loss in the fourth quarter of 2008 on falling material prices and declining production, newspapers reported on Saturday.
China Steel lost T$18.26 billion in the past quarter as it began stopping or scaling back production at all locations amid a low point in falling raw material prices, Taiwan's Commercial Times said.
The company's Q4 sales declined by 540,000 metric tonnes to 1.99 million metric tonnes from Q3, newspapers reported.
More problems are ahead, China Steel told local newspapers.
'Looking ahead at this year, China Steel admits that it still faces the pressure of more losses in the first quarter,' the Commercial Times said.
Company officials were not available for comment.
The company said in November it would cut domestic steel production in the first quarter of 2009 as it slashes output due to weakening demand during the global economic downturn.
The cuts, the company's first in three years, would lower prices by an average of 22.56 percent from the previous three months, in line with global trends.
China Steel's shares closed up 44 percent on Wednesday, the last day of trade before a Lunar New Year's holiday break. Taiwan's markets reopen on Feb. 2.
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