SEOUL: South Korea's Posco, the world's fifth largest steelmaker, said Thursday its second-quarter net profit doubled from a year ago, with a strong won cutting the value of its dollar-dominated debts.
The steel giant posted a net profit of 487.2 billion won ($473 million) in the April-June period, up 102.6 percent from 241 billion won a year ago.
But operating profit shrank seven percent on-year to 839.1 billion won, as the strong Korean currency also blunted competitiveness overseas and cut the value of repatriated earnings.
Sales rose 7.1 percent to 16.7 trillion won during the same period.
The company said global steel demand would rise three percent this year thanks to fast recovery in advanced markets including the United States.
"Rapid inventory adjustment efforts in China will stabilise supply-demand balance, which will help boost steel prices in the third quarter," Posco said.
It revised its sales target for 2014 upwards to 64.5 trillion won from 63.5 trillion won.
Slowing growth in China -- the world's top steel consumer -- and a growing amount of cheap steel products churned out by Chinese rivals had caused a global glut, squeezing margins for Posco.
Posco earns about 40 percent of its sales from overseas.
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