South Korean steel giant POSCO announced plans to rearrange its steel prices in response to fluctuating international prices and domestic demand. Rearrangement in the prices will be in the form of an increase in hot rolled products and in the form of reduction in steel
plate prices as of May 1, 2006. Accordingly, hot rolled coil prices will rise by Won 20,000/ton ($21/ton) to Won 470,000/ton ($500/ton) in the domestic market due to falling inventory levels; however, prices for steel plates and steel plates for
shipbuilding will be reduced by Won 30,000/ton ($32/ton) to Won 620,000 ($660/ton) and Won 585,000/ton ($622/ton), respectively. Moreover, POSCO will also increase the prices of 300 series hot-rolled and cold-rolled products by Won 200,000/ton ($213/ton) to Won 2.42 million/ton ($2,575/ton) and Won 2.69 million/ton ($2,863/ton) for orders made as of May 3, 2006, respectively.