South Korean steel major POSCO has signed an agreement with Metinvest Holding, Ukraine's top steelmaker, to cooperate in the raw material and steel sectors.
Under the memorandum of understanding (MOU) the two firms will cooperate in seeking steel and mining business opportunities in eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) including Ukraine, said POSCO in a statement.
According to the report, Metinvest accounts for 26 percent of steel production in Ukraine, which is known to hold the world's largest iron ore and sixth-largest coal reserves.

Japan's crude steel production in 2009 is estimated to hit the lowest level in 40 years due largely to steep demand falls from automakers and other manufacturers in the first half of the year, Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry said.
MET said that output is projected to total 86.34 million tonnes, the lowest level since 1969.

Asian steel price has been influenced by an unreasonable increase in China's steel price of the end of the second quarter and as a result, the steel industry had to control prices to bring them back to a reasonable level.
As per report, Taiwanese buyers are adopting a wait and see attitude and they are just placing small quantity orders because they are expecting lower prices.
Most of Taiwanese mills are tagging along Chung Hung Steel, to maintain the same price level. They expect the selling price to remain close to their costs, in order to avoid big losses because plate demand is currently weak and due to China's interference in the market recently.

South Korean steel maker POSCO is planning to take over Daewoo International.
"We are considering buying the local trading and energy company and the official decision will come out very soon. POSCO has been in internal talks to study the details of its takeover of Daewoo International." Chung Joon yang CEO of POSCO said.
This is the first time POCSO has officially admitted its strong interest in Daewoo by the company's top level officer.
Citing a senior POSCO official, the report said, "If POSCO acquires the major stakes in POCSO, then it is expected for us to create a sizable synergy in our key businesses."
The South Korean government has already started a process to sell its 68.8 percent stake in Daewoo. The government controlled stake is made up of the state run debt clearer Korea Asset Management with a 35.5 percent stake, the state owned trade financier Export Import Bank of Korea with 11.2 percent and the state run Korea Development Bank with 5.2 percent, among others.
KAMCO plans to decide a lead manager sometime in November for the sale. The overall market value of Daewoo International is estimated at around KRW 4 trillion including management premium. Along with POSCO, chemical focused conglomerate Hanwha, STX Group, South Korea's top oil refiner SK Energy and GS Group have reported a keen interest in Daewoo stakes.
Na Eun chae analyst at Hyundai Securities said,"POSCO could use Daewoo's overseas sales channels for raw materials. POSCO's move has also been in line with its vigorous strategy for vertical integration works in steel related business."
Daewoo International is currently involved in 15 energy and mine development projects across the globe, including the Myanmar offshore gas field, Block A-1/A-3 which plans to pump 500 million cubic feet of natural gas a day from May 2013 for China National Petroleum Corp.

JFE Steel Corporation is preparing to seek talks with the industry ministry over the investments on upstream steel in Thailand.
Sorayuth Pethtrakul vice industry minister revealed that the executives of the JFE Steel Corporation, one of the four major iron and steel manufacturers expressed their intention to continue investing in high quality upstream steel businesses.
He said that the ministry was ready to present the matter to the Board of Investment if the public sector needed any supplementary information in an effort to promote knowledge and environmental awareness for the progress of the project.
Sorayuth insisted that Thailand was still considered as an appropriate investment hub for upstream steel businesses as well as automobiles and electronics. He stated that the ministry was pressing ahead with the study of the suitable locations and strategies for the steel industry conducted by the Iron and Steel Institute of Thailand in an effort to learn about its appropriateness on economic factors and the worthiness of investments with concerns over the environment and communities.

POSCO Engineering & Construction, a unit of steel giant POSCO, has completed Asia Special Steel plants in Japan, after it won the building order of $201.6 million in December of 2007. Asia Special Steel, a joint venture between Posteel (POSCO Steel Service & Sales Co Ltd) and Japan's Kotobuki Industries, has a furnace with an annual production capacity of 60 tons and other steel product production facilities with 120,000 tons a year, a statement from POSCO E&C said. The construction arm of the world's No. 4 steel maker is separately building thermal power plants in Chile's Ventanas, Angamos and Campiche, while it is set to complete a combined cycle power plant in Peru, the statement said.

POSCO, South Korea's biggest steelmaker, is considering increasing its shareholding in SET-listed Thainox Stainless Plc. The price and the size of the stake have not been decided, POSCO spokesman Choi Doo Jin said.
POSCO, which already owns 15 percent of Thainox, is seeking to acquire the remaining 85 percent for as much as 500 billion won, the report said, citing unidentified industry executives. Thainox chairman Prayuth Mahagitsiri declined to comment, added the report.

According to the data released by the Japan Iron & Steel Association, steel product orders, including specialty steels, booked by domestic steel consuming sectors in August 2009 amounted to 6.52 million tons, down by 6 percent MoM and also down by 16 percent YoY.
In August 2009, steel products orders in Japan, including specialty steels, booked by the domestic construction sector decreased by 0.27 percent MoM to 894,250 tons, while the YoY decrease was 17.36 percent.
Meanwhile, steel product orders booked by the Japanese automotive sector reached 1.04 million tons, down by 0.96 percent MoM and also down by 25.73 percent YoY.
Finally, Japan's shipbuilding industry booked 427,050 tons of steel products during August, down by 7.19 percent MoM and also down by 8.49 percent YoY.