另两则好消息，来自The Edge和The Star。
13-05-2008
Steel exporters to benefit from removal of restrictions KUALA LUMPUR: Steel-related stocks on Bursa Malaysia rose on the government’s move last week to free up all restrictions on the industry.
Last Friday, the government announced the lifting of ceiling prices of steel bars and billets. It also announced the lifting of restrictions on imports and exports of long steel products such as bars and rods.
Previously, there was a cap on ceiling prices of steel and the building material was not allowed to be exported while imports were restricted.
Analysts said the abolition of ceiling prices of bars and billets would further enhance the transparency issue that has plagued the industry while the lifting of import restrictions would address concerns on the shortage of certain steel products and create a more competitive pricing environment.
The liberalisation of exports would also be positive for the local steel manufacturers to capitalise on the current regional shortage of the material, they said.
Local players could increase exports without the need to dilute their domestic market share, as their products remain competitive, given the logistic advantage, the acute global shortage and possibility of the government introducing non-barrier tariff on steel imports.
“We also reckon that the government may introduce local standard or testing requirements on imported steel products to safeguard public interest and safety, hence non-tariff barrier to imports,” it said.
The research house said that with the void caused by China’s recent export tariff hike to 25%, the shortage of billets was now becoming more critical and Malaysian players had already stepped in to fill the role.
The research house said it was reverting to a 10 times steel price earnings ratio (PER) multiple on FY09 numbers, and reiterated its ultra bullish view on Malaysia’s long steel sector.
It said the liberalisation also put an end to its concern on the possible export restrictions as well as tightening of the steel price control mechanism for steel products, excusing good performance posted by steel mills.
“Nonetheless, we make no changes to our earlier decision to roll over our valuation to the more conservative FY09 estimates which are more sustainable and reasonable, as FY08 margin was exceptional thus it may not be a good benchmark for valuation purposes,” it said.
Overall, steel stocks were still trading at attractive single-digit PER on FY09 numbers despite positive developments.
The liberalisation of the price control was not surprising, and indeed was timely as international steel bars and billets were already trading at about RM3,000 and RM2,700 per tonne respectively, compared to the domestic ceiling prices of RM2,400 and RM2,000 per tonne for selected grades.
It said the price disparity had given rise to hoarding and artificial imposition of hidden charges on top of the domestic ceiling prices.
“This should offset lower domestic sales as local buyers may potentially switch to imported bars and billets. Exports to new destinations also carry the benefit of Malaysian tax rebates,” it said.
It remained concerned on the sourcing of quality steel from foreign markets, adding that the difficulty in timely sourcing of steel bars and billets, volatile steel prices and the array of multiple grades of steel which may be non-compliant with local industry standards are their concerns for domestic contractors and developers.
“As long as these external factors remain amid the ease of imports, we believe local steel producers will still mainly cater to the domestic market at global prices,” it said.
Wednesday May 14, 2008
Government to issue circular on steel price calculation
KUALA LUMPUR: The Finance Ministry will be soon issuing a circular on the price variation calculation for steel following the abolishment of the ceiling price for steel on Monday.
In a statement yesterday, the ministry said contractors carrying out conventional government projects could apply for a price variation on their contract based on the current steel price.
“The application by contractors would have to be through the implementing agency as what is in practice now,” the statement said.
The new price calculation mechanism is also effective May 12.
The ministry said that the conventional contracts for civil and construction works had a clause on price variation.
It said for civil works, the price variation calculation is based on the transaction price. This method of calculation would be continued.
For construction projects, the ministry said the calculation of price was based on the cost of 15 building materials, including steel.
This method of calculation would be revised where the suggested price variation calculation for steel will be based on the current market price and separately calculated from the indices of other building materials prices.
For government projects under the design and build category, there is no clause on price variation currently. In order to reduce the risk in price variation that is absorbed by the contractor, this category of contracts would have a price variation clause specially for steel, the statement said. – Bernama
写于五月十四日二零零八年
No comments:
Post a Comment