Posted on 02 Feb 2026
The total volume of carbon steel items sold by China Steel Corp (CSC), Taiwan's top integrated steel producer, fell by 209,441 tonnes or 2.8% during 2025 to reach 7.38 million tonnes, according to the company's latest release on its website.
Its poor performance in carbon steel sales led the steel giant headquartered in South Taiwan's Kaohsiung to record a pre-tax loss of TWD 4.68 billion ($149 million) for 2025, the release showed. This marked a sharp departure from the pre-tax profit of TWD 4.58 billion for the previous year, Mysteel Global notes.
For December alone, CSC's carbon steel sales came in at 608,055 tonnes, rising by 10,602 tonnes or 1.8% on month. The company achieved a pre-tax profit of TWD 378.8 million last month, seeing a significant improvement compared with the pre-tax loss of TWD 75.8 million in November, according to the release.
The company's full year results reflected the pressure that lackluster demand had exerted on Taiwan's steel market in 2025. However, CSC is still optimistic about the steel market this year with expectations for an improved macroeconomic environment.
The latest World Economic Outlook released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggested that the global economy may grow by 3.3% on year in 2026, higher by 0.2 percentage point from the previous projection released in October 2025, as reported. The IMF is holding its forecast for 2027 at 3.2%.
Private investment and infrastructure demand may improve with the US Federal Reserve's ongoing interest rate cut cycle, and the economy in Europe is likely to benefit from fiscal stimulus. Although the real estate sector in China may remain weak, manufacturing and new energy vehicle exports are expected to stay robust, CSC noted.
As for Taiwan, local economic growth is likely to be propelled by the better performance of the AI and semiconductor sectors, even though traditional industries may stay under pressure due to the subdued end-user demand.
CSC pointed out that the reciprocal tariff reductions between Taiwan and the United States are expected to benefit many steel user industries, such as machinery and automotive components, which is likely to help stabilize the domestic steel market.
For local sales in February, CSC has decided to lift the list prices of its major steel products such as hot-rolled and cold-rolled coils by TWD 300/t in response to the rising global steel prices and increasing production costs, as reported.
Source:Mysteel Global
