SeAH Steel to Shift to High Valued Products

South Korean largest welding steel pipe maker, SeAH Steel accelerates shifting to higher valued products line to improve the profitability under higher import from China and unfavorable higher won rate. The president Won-Iel, Gong of the firm said the firm tries to differentiate the products from import from China. The firm shifts to high valued products including American Petroleum Institute grade high strength pipe, mechanical tube and steel pipe pile. The firm has 4 plants in South Korea including Pohang plant for carbon steel, Changwon plant for stainless welded pipe and Gunsan plant for galvanizing and colored flat steel and 2 plants in Vietnam. The firm plans to increase the output by 12% to 930,000 tonnes in 2006 from 2005 at the main plant of Pohang with annual 1.14 million tonnes of capacity. The firm sells 70% of the products in South Korea and ships 36,000 tonnes of carbon steel and 2,400 tonnes for Japan. Slower South Korean construction demand reduces steel pipe demand for construction. Cheaper welded and seamless pipe import from China impacts negatively on South Korean market. The firm is suffered from higher cost for the material sheet steel and higher won rate against yen. The firm posts lower profit for April-June from same period of 2005 though the results regained profit from loss in January-March. The firm tries to improve the profitability by shifting to higher valued products including boiler tube, line pipe, oil well pipe, automotive mechanical tube and large diameter pipe for shipbuilding.