South Korea's POSCO and Hyundai will raise their ABS EH36 hull structure steel plate and so on steel prices again in August under negotiations with shipbuilders, South Korean media Monday reported. At present, Korean shipbuilding enterprises have not met the expected recovery, and feel "pressure mountain" on steel prices, and Korean steel enterprises are facing a "dilemma": in addition to the shipbuilding industry, no other industry can replace the digestion of its huge plate production; steel enterprises not only need to ensure the equipment start-up rate, but also to maintain reasonable. How can fish and bear paws get together? In this regard, the Korean steel industry is also very worried.
In 2008, the price of heavy plates for ships reached a high peak of more than 1 million won/ton, which was also the result of the rise in global raw material prices and the highly prosperous shipbuilding market. However, with the outbreak of the international financial crisis, the shipbuilding industry has been in a recession for many years, and the price of ABS EH36 hull structure steel plate etc. heavy plates for ships has also fallen. In 2017, the price of heavy plates for ships even nearly fell to 600,000 won / ton. In this regard, South Korean steel companies said that in view of the difficulties of domestic shipbuilding enterprises, steel companies have been maintaining low prices for many years to provide shipbuilding enterprises with ABS EH36 hull structure steel plate etc. thick plates.
South Korea's steel industry says that by normalizing the price of ABS EH36 hull structure steel plate etc. heavy plates for ships, it can theoretically increase the profits of steel companies, but in fact it is not so simple. According to the statistics of the Korean steel industry, the total production capacity of the three major steel enterprises, Pohang Iron, Modern Iron and East China Steel, has reached at least 12 million tons. Among them, Pohang makes about 7 million to 8 million tons of iron, modern makes about 3 million to 3.5 million tons of iron, and Dongguo makes about 1.5 million tons of steel. Apart from one heavy plate production facility, the other equipment in the East China maintained the scale of production during the boom of shipbuilding industry. At the same time, no other industry can replace the shipbuilding industry to digest its huge plate production, so it is difficult for steel companies to make a unilateral voice on the rise in steel prices. Once a little carelessness, the price negotiations with the shipbuilding enterprise will be difficult. If the current price is maintained, the profits of steel enterprises producing thick plates are actually only near the break-even point. If the price is lower than the current price, the steel enterprises will have to produce at a loss.
An iron and steel company worker said that most of the ABS EH36 hull structure steel plate etc. heavy plates produced by the steel companies were sold to shipbuilders, who had previously been produced at low prices even at a loss, in order to cope with the difficulties of the shipbuilding industry together and to ensure the operating efficiency of their own heavy plate production equipment. At present, the attempt to raise the price is only to make up for the shortfall of previous low-price sales, so we hope to normalize the price of ABS EH36 hull structure steel plate etc. thick plates for ships.
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