Recently, the LME nickel price dipped slightly to the February average of US$26,000 but remained at a high level. In particular, there has been a movement toward price increases due to a temporary price hike caused by a shortage of supply of chrome from China and fluctuations in raw material costs such as the spike in molybdenum prices.

In terms of the domestic demand market in South Korea, the demanding industry continues to be sluggish due to the influx of imported goods as a result of the flooding accident at the POSCO steel plant.

As a result, POSCO decided to freeze prices for 300 and 400 series stainless steels. In addition, the company increased the price of 316L steel by 250,000 won per ton in view of the recent surge in molybdenum prices.

Going forward, POSCO will continue to monitor raw materials and market trends, while developing pricing policies based on each industry.