Taiwan's China Steel: Seek To Defer, Cut Iron Ore, Coking Coal Shipments

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; [phone]; [e-mail]