Recently, Korea's and foreign steel producers keep raising prices of steel products continuously. Steel makers like POSCO of Korea are said to have increased prices of hot-rolled coil in March, the third month in succession.  
Industry professionals say that it is attributed to the fact that steel producers in China, who leads prices of steel products in the world, raise prices out of expectation that Chinese new government will stimulate the economy. On top of this, prices of iron ore and electric charges have risen, which boosted production cost.  
Industry sources say that domestic retail price of hot-rolled steel plate in February was the level of KRW 795,000 ($724) per ton, showing a month-on-month increase by KRW 20,000, and steel industry is planning an additional raise around KRW 20,000-30,000 per ton for March as well.
Domestic price of hot-rolled coil has been on the rise from the lowest, KRW 765,000 in November, and other steel products are likely to go through price increases.
Particularly, POSCO is said to have decided the export price of thick plate in February as $590-600 per ton, representing an increase by $60-70 per ton compared to the price for the last December.
Moreover, Chinese largest steel maker, Baosteel, is to increase the price of its hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel plates by CNY 150 ($24) (+3.0%) and CNY 150 (+2.9%) per ton, respectively, in April, having raised prices for the five consecutive months since last December.
According to TEX Report, Japan’s Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal also determined a further increase in export price for Asia around $20 during April and May raising ‘offer price’ to $670 (CFR: Cost and Freight). The increase in export price is said to be not applied to the thick plates that Korean shipbuilders import.