POSCO Posts 1st Quarterly Loss
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Update time : 2020-07-22 16:13:09
POSCO posted its first-ever quarterly operating loss in the period between April and June this year.
Korea's top steelmaker achieved sales of W5.89 trillion but an operating loss of W108.5 billion in the second quarter, a spokesman said Tuesday (US$1=W1,197).
POSCO weathered even the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s and the global financial crisis in 2008. Its only loss came in its very first year of operation in 1972.
In the second quarter last year POSCO earned an operating profit of W724.3 billion, and in the first quarter this year, when the coronavirus epidemic started spreading, it dwindled to W458.1 billion. Overall, its sales fell 15.9 percent and profits plummeted 84.3 percent from a year ago.
"The biggest cause of the loss was falling prices of steel plates for vehicles as a result of low demand" the spokesman added. "Operating profit plummeted more steeply than sales because we had to cut prices to keep the business afloat."
