Taiwan's China Steel: Seek To Defer, Cut Iron Ore, Coking Coal Shipments
2011年11月17日 - 12:57PM
Dow Jones News
Taiwan's China Steel Corp. (2002.TW) has been actively seeking
to defer or cut upcoming shipments of iron ore and coking coal from
major suppliers, as the steelmaker is reducing its capacity
utilization amid weakening global demand, a senior company official
said Thursday.
China Steel is in talks with iron-ore producers BHP Billiton
Ltd. (BHP.AU), Rio Tinto Ltd. (RIO.AU), Vale SA (VALE) and
"numerous" coking-coal miners in Australia, said the official, who
is directly involved in the talks but asked not to be named.
"We have to take necessary measures to cope with the falling
demand from our downstream customers," the official said. "It's
very difficult to tell how long the deferral will last...We expect
the first quarter will still be tough."
Taiwan's biggest steelmaker by revenue said last week global
steel demand has turned weaker due to the European debt crisis and
slowing global economic growth, and it has cut its utilization rate
due to dwindling domestic demand and weaker global steel
prices.
-By Fanny Liu, Dow Jones Newswires; +886 25022557;
fanny.liu@dowjones.com