South Korean steelmaker Pohang Iron and Steel Co. (POSCO) has announced its financial results for the first quarter this year, reporting a net profit of KRW 55.65 billion ($54.02 million), decreasing by 81 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
In the first three months of the current year, POSCO's sales revenue amounted to KRW 15.44 trillion ($15 billion), down 5.9 percent year on year. Meanwhile, its operating profit for the given quarter amounted to KRW 731.3 billion ($709.9 million), rising two percent compared to the corresponding period of 2013.
In the given quarter of the current year, POSCO produced 9.3 million mt of crude steel, increasing by 2.6 percent, while the company's steel product sales amounted to 8.4 million mt, declining by a very slight margin of 0.35 percent, both year on year.
For 2014, POSCO said that it has lowered its sales guidance to KWR 63.5 trillion ($61.6 billion) from the previously announced KWR 65.3 trillion, while it has increased its crude steel production forecast by 200,000 mt to 37.9 million mt.