South Korean steel producer POSCO, the world's fourth largest steelmaker plans to extend its output cut into the second quarter of 2009 as a result of scheduled maintenance work.
Accordingly, POSCO may cut production by up to one million mt of crude steel through June. POSCO cut production in December for the first time in its 40-year history as the global recession weakened demand.
The company previously said that it would cut its output of crude steel by around 200,000 mt in February, following a reduction of 570,000 mt during the two previous months. In February, POSCO CEO Chung Joon-yang had said the company's output reduction in the first three months of the year could reach up to 800,000 mt.
POSCO expects that its sales will fall by up to 12 percent in 2009, and that its steel output for the year could drop by as much as 12 percent to 29 million mt.