【SMM Steel】Taiwan's CSC to Announce New Prices, Buyers Adopt Cautious Stance

Published: Jan 8, 2026 11:53

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【SMM Steel】Taiwan's China Steel Corporation (CSC) is set to announce its February domestic sales prices next week, bringing the Asian steel market into a price-sensitive period earlier than usual. Against the backdrop of limited steel exports from mainland China and slight price increases from Vietnamese mills, the market widely believes that CSC has exhausted its room for further price reductions. Market participants indicated that some South Korean traders have recently been testing purchasing intentions from Taiwanese buyers, but the overall attitude remains conservative, as they are reluctant to bear high costs before demand recovers. Market analysis points out that February coincides with the Lunar New Year and a series of holidays, resulting in a limited number of effective working days. CSC's pricing needs to not only reflect international market trends but also stimulate downstream deliveries and stabilize sales to avoid impacting the market in the first quarter of 2026. Overall, current steel prices remain at low levels. Although raw material costs and related policies provide some support for the current trend, CSC still needs to boost market confidence. Furthermore, order intake by South Korean traders is not ideal, indicating that buyers are becoming increasingly cautious about controlling import costs.

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