Commodity Online
SEOUL: South Korea’s leading steel manufacturer POSCO on Thursday said it is considering a price hike for steel products.

POSCO, which has lagged its local rivals such as Hyundai Steel in raising prices, has increasingly come under pressure due to rising costs of raw materials such as coking coal and iron ore. Both are key materials used to produce steel.

POSCO agreed to a 65 percent hike in iron ore prices with Brazilian mining firm Vale in February and has yet to deal with other mining majors such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.

The term price of iron ore has risen fivefold since 2001, while coal prices have surged this year because of strong demand from China and supply disruptions in Australia caused by port conditions and poor weather.

POSCO, the world's fourth-largest steel maker by output, has been widely tipped by analysts to bid for Daewoo Shipbuilding to lock in a big buyer of its products.

South Korean steelmakers, including POSCO, have said that they were interested in buying the shipbuilder but the high premium for the company could be a problem.

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