On Friday, May 29, South Korea's second largest steelmaker Hyundai Steel announced that it will cut its steel prices by up to 20 percent, following similar moves by domestic rivals such as POSCO and Dongkuk.
Accordingly, the company will cut its hot rolled steel prices by 20.4 percent to KRW 700,000/mt ($559.5/mt), while the price of its main product H-beam will decline by 7.2 percent to KRW 900,000/mt ($719.4/mt), with its rebar price down by 8.5 percent to KRW 751,000/mt ($600.3mt).
"The move is to secure price competitiveness of our products amid slow economic recovery," Hyundai said in a statement.
In mid-May, South Korea's largest steelmaker POSCO cut its carbon steel prices by up to 20 percent and its stainless steel prices by up to 19 percent due to the lower demand and falling international steel prices.
On May 20, South Korea's third largest steel company Dongkuk Steel also cut all of its ship plate prices by 11 percent.
Hyundai Steel's net profit for Q1 2009 plunged 62 percent year on year to KRW 51.5 billion ($41.16 million), its biggest quarterly drop in profit in three years, after the producer had slashed production and prices as the global recession curbed demand from builders.
$1 = KRW 1,251