Affected by the typhoon and flood accident in September last year, the stainless steel production and sales volume of POSCO Stainless Steel Division dropped sharply in the fourth quarter.
While POSCO announced its operating performance in 2022 through a conference call, POSCO’s stainless steel production in the fourth quarter (October-December) of last year was 151,000 tons, a decrease of 56.6% from the previous quarter. In the third quarter, production fell quarterly due to sluggish demand and shutdowns caused by floods in September, followed by a sharp decline in the fourth quarter.
POSCO’s sales volume of stainless steel products in the fourth quarter of 2022 (October-December) was 186,000 tons, a decrease of 47.2% from the previous quarter. Last year, the sales performance of POSCO Stainless Steel Division showed a continuous decline after the first quarter. In addition, the annual sales of stainless steel products in 2022 will be 1.487 million tons, a decrease of 25%.
Zhangjiagang Pohang Stainless Steel (PZSS), a Chinese POSCO stainless steel producer, posted an operating loss, but sales in 2022 were flat compared to the previous year. Zhangjiagang Pohang Stainless Steel had sales of US$3.275 billion last year. It suffered an operating loss of $59 million last year.
The company explained that due to the impact of the situation in Russia and Ukraine and the increased demand for nickel for batteries, the price of stainless steel raw materials is very high, and due to the government’s maintenance of quarantine policies, demand has decreased, resulting in lower profit margins and operating losses.