POSCO Q2 profit down 17%; meets forecast

POSCO, the world's No.3 steelmaker, reported a 17% annual fall in quarterly operating profit, hurt by high raw material costs and cheaper products from Japanese rivals after the March 11 earthquake.

The South Korean company, which trails ArcelorMittal and Baosteel, said April-June operating profit was 1.5 trillion won (USD 1.4 billion), compared with a consensus forecast of 1.46 trillion won by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The profit compared with 1.8 trillion won a year ago and 921 billion won in the previous quarter, POSCO said.
The steel mill, which competes with Hyundai Steel in home market, raised its domestic product prices for the first time in nine months in April, but cheaper imports from Japan after the March 11 disaster kept its domestic prices under pressure, analysts said.
Shares in POSCO, which counts billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway as a major shareholder, have fallen 3.5% this year, compared with a 4.6% gain in the broader market.
(USD 1 = 1054.700 Korean Won)