Hyundai Steel Q2 net more than doubles

SEOUL, July 28 (Yonhap) -- Hyundai Steel Co., South Korea's No. 2 steelmaker, said Thursday that its second-quarter profit more than doubled from a year earlier, aided by increased sales of high-priced steel products.
Net profit reached 334 billion won (US$318 million) in the April-June period, compared with a profit of 130 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Sales jumped 49 percent to 4.05 trillion won over the cited period, and operating income gained 12 percent to 409 billion won, it said.
Shares of Hyundai Steel closed at 133,000 won on the Seoul bourse, down 1.48 percent from the previous session.
Hyundai Steel said demand from shipbuilders and automakers increased sharply, and exports also remained strong, the steelmaker said.
Hyundai Steel said its crude steel output increased 35 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier to reach 4.3 million tons. The steelmaker sold 4.32 million tons of steel products, also up 38.4 percent over the cited period, it said.
Hyundai Steel put its second blast furnace into operation in November last year, sharply boosting its output capacity. The first blast furnace, with an annual output capacity of 4 million tons, started operations in April last year.
Hyundai Steel said it aims to generate sales worth 15.7 trillion won and sell 16.5 million tons of steel this year.