POSCO acts careful with exports to China & Southeast Asia

POSCO acts careful with exports to China & Southeast Asia

For the third quarter sales of its high grade products, the South Korean giant steelmaker POSCO is reported to be handling the negotiations for exports to China and Southeast Asia with utmost attention. It is very important for the company to keep the high grade steel products market stable, to control the quantity of exports and to prevent the prices in these markets from falling. Among the factors POSCO takes into consideration are the SARS disease risk in China as well as the dropping of steel prices, a large stock increase coming from the third countries which are those other than Japan, Korea, and Taiwan to Southeast Asia, and a weak demand caused by uncertainties of economy. POSCO's policy has received approval from the Iron & Steel Institute of Japan. It is anticipated that if such action could be implemented, steel prices in Southeast Asia might stop dropping further and might begin to rebound from October onwards. In addition to POSCO's strategy, the contribution of Taiwanese China Steel Corp. by refusing to reduce prices of steel exports to China mainland and southeast Asia in the third quarter, would enhance the effectiveness of the situation.