POSCO Confirms Raising May Stainless Steel Prices

SEOUL, Apr. 29 -- South Korea's POSCO (005490.KS: Quote), the world's No. 4 steelmaker, said it will raise prices of stainless steel products for a fourth straight month on rising raw material costs, confirming an earlier local report on Wednesday.

POSCO will raise May prices of hot-rolled stainless steel products by 300,000 won or 8.5 percent to 3.85 million won ($3,468) a tonne, and cold-rolled product prices will also rise by 300,000 won or 7.9 percent to 4.12 million won a tonne.

The price increases in raw materials, including nickel, forced the steelmaker to raise its product prices for products to be released from next month, a POSCO spokesman said, confirming the report by local news agency YonhapNews.

Prices of nickel MNI3, a key ingredient in stainless steel, on the London Metal Exchange has been hovering at around $25,000 a tonne after hitting more than $27,000 last week. ($1=1110.0 Won)