October 12, 2008

POSCO may raise HR price in Q1 2008

Market analyst commented that it is very possible for POSCO to increase its HR price for Q1 of 2008.

According to market analyst in the Q4 of 2007, the domestic price of HRC in South Korea differed a lot between different mills. For example, the price of hot rolled coils for cold rolling of POSCO was at USD 568 per tonne and the price of Hyundai steel was at USD 634 per tonne.

In China, the price of Baosteel was at FOB USD 565 per tonne while that of Wu Gang was at FOB USD 590 per tonne and the price of JFE Steel in Japan was at FOB USD 535 per tonne.

The analyst further added that taking the cost of freight and insurance into consideration, both the CFR price of China and Japan are higher than that of POSCO. Therefore, POSCO may increase its HR price by KRW 50,000 per tonne in the Q1 of 2008. Meanwhile, the CR price in South Korea is expected to up by USD 30 to USD 50 per tonne as well.