| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
advertisement | ||
Tuesday August 28, 3:19 PMPOSCO to cut stainless steel output in SeptSEOUL, Aug 28 (Reuters) - POSCO Co Ltd , the world's fourth-largest steel maker, will cut stainless steel output by another 25,000 tonnes in September, responding to slower demand, industry sources said on Tuesday.The South Korean steel maker had already cut stainless steel output in July and August by a total of 50,000 tonnes. POSCO's annual output of hot-rolled stainless steel is around 2 million tonnes. "End-users are staying away from the market due to volatile prices of nickel, a key input in stainless steel," said an official at a stainless steel maker. Global nickel prices have nearly halved from a record $51,800 per tonne hit in May due to the London Metal Exchange's intervention and concerns that higher prices would cut demand. Three-month nickel at the London Metal Exchange was trading at $27,700 per tonne. "Stocks are piling up. Weak demand could linger until early in the fourth quarter, when the high-demand season starts," said the official. Stocks of hot-rolled stainless steel in South Korean warehouses more than doubled to 24,900 tonnes in July from a year ago, according to Korea Iron & Steel Association. Sales of the alloy fell 50 percent in July from last year to 65,991 tonnes. "The figure may be worse in August," said an official at POSCO. Traders said POSCO's cuts have also led to sluggish nickel demand. POSCO's monthly consumption of nickel fell to 1,000-2,000 tonnes in August from 5,000 tonnes early this year. "Spot nickel demand has disappeared in the market," said a trader at an international trading house. There were rumours that some stainless steel mills abroad were restocking nickel in anticipation of a pick-up in consumer demand later this year. "POSCO had secured lots of nickel scrap in the first half of the year so it's in no rush to buy the metal," the trader said. POSCO has increased the use of scrap to 60 percent of the total consumption of nickel-related raw material this year from 54 percent in 2006. |
|||
|
Copyright © 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of Reuters Limited
|