South Korean steelmaker Pohang Iron and Steel Co. (POSCO) has announced that in the second quarter of 2012 its net profit decreased by 66 percent year on year and down 26.7 percent from the previous quarter to KWR 466 billion ($406 million).
According to the financial results, POSCO's sales revenue in Q2 totaled KWR 16.5 trillion ($144 billion), down 3.3 percent year on year. Meanwhile, its operating profit for the given quarter amounted to KRW 1.07 trillion ($931 million), down by 39 percent compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The year-on-year fall in POSCO's quarterly operating profit was due to the slowdown in orders and cheaper imports from China and Japan undercut prices at home.
In the second quarter of the current year, POSCO produced 9.41 million mt of crude steel, up 1.3 percent year on year and declining slightly by 0.2 percent compared to the previous quarter. In the same quarter, the company's finished steel product sales increased slightly year on year to 8.67 million mt.