Taiwan Cement Corp., one of Taiwan's leading cement suppliers, said Monday that it has raised cement prices in Guangdong province because of rising demand in China's market.
Taiwan Cement said it has hiked product prices in the province, the company's major market in China, by 20 Chinese yuan (US$3.26) per metric ton. High-end cement now carries a price tag of 340 yuan per metric ton, up from 320 yuan.
The cement supplier said demand in the Pearl River Delta area grew significantly in late September as inventories were drawn down for construction projects ahead of the Oct. 1 National Day holiday.
Analysts said Taiwan Cement is expected to benefit from the upturn in demand for the rest of the year because the fourth quarter is a peak season in China's cement market, one that will receive an extra boost from government efforts to push investment in infrastructure.
It was Taiwan Cement's second price hike in Guangdong since August, when it raised cement prices by 10 yuan per ton.
Taiwan Cement said it has not ruled out the possibility of raising cement prices in other provinces, such as Guangxi, Jiangsu and Sichuan, based on solid demand in those areas.
According to its website, Taiwan Cement operates production lines in several provinces, including Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou.
In the first half of the year, Taiwan Cement sold 22.7 million metric tons of cement in China, compared with only 3.1 million metric tons in Taiwan.
The company posted NT$5.03 billion in net profit in the first half, up 25.72 percent from a year earlier, with earnings per share (EPS) of NT$1.36, a record high for Taiwan Cement in a half year and higher than the NT$1.08 in EPS recorded over the same period the previous year.
Despite the latest product price hike, shares of Taiwan Cement fell 0.66 percent to close at NT$45.00 in trading in Taipei on Monday amid pessimism over the market's prospects after the weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange shed 2.71 percent last week.
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