South Korea boosts crude steel production
The Korea Iron and Steel Association announced that South Korea's crude steel production hit a new record in the first six months of the year. In line with the statistics released by the association, crude steel production for the first six months of the 2005 increased 0.3 percent year on year to 23.74 million tons. A large part of this gain is due to the resumption of production at INI Steel's mini-mill in Tangjin. Crude steel production from electric furnaces increased 2.1 percent year on year to 10.77 million tons, while the crude steel production from blast furnaces declined 1.2 percent to 12.97 million tons.