South Korean steelmaker Pohang Iron and Steel Co. (POSCO) has announced its financial results for the first quarter of the current year, reporting a net profit of KRW 1.08 trillion ($1 billion), compared to a net profit of KRW 977 billion in the same quarter of the previous year.
In the first quarter, POSCO's sales revenues increased by 5.2 percent year on year to KRW 15.86 trillion ($14.65 billion), while its operating profit amounted to KRW 1.48 trillion ($1.37 billion), rising by nine percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
In the period in question, POSCO produced 9.28 million mt of crude steel, up 2.7 percent year on year, while its finished steel sales went up by 6.5 percent year on year at 9.29 million mt.
POSCO stated that, under the Section 232 investigation in the US, South Korea received a steel quota of 2.68 million mt based on a three-year average, which includes 1.34 million mt of flat steel products and 1.04 million mt of pipe-making products. POSCO supplies 550,000 mt to four major pipe-making clients in the US, which falls short by 340,000 mt compared with its plan for exports to such US clients. Accordingly, the company will instead expand its exports to regions other than the US, while in the South Korean market it will continue to replace imports. Thus, the 340,000 mt decrease from the US market will be fully compensated with other customers and other countries. It will also lead to an increase in POSCO’s domestic sales and profits, which in turn means there will be almost no impact from the decreased US quota for pipe-making steel.