Posco signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of China's Jilin Province to take part in the region's industrial development project.
Under the MoU, signed by Posco CEO, Chung Joon-yang and Jilin Province Governor, Wang Rulin, Posco will collaborate with the provincial government in developing the steel, automotive, construction, civil engineering and high tech industries.
According to Posco, the MoU was signed on request from Jilin Province, which is planning extensive development projects as part of the Chinese government's plans for the three northeastern provinces. The company will supply steel products for use in automobile and train production that have been increasing in Jilin province, the company said.
The details plans for Posco and affiliates' involvement in other projects will be drawn up at a later date, following joint studies during the second half of the year.
Under the agreement, Posco will take part in projects building steel processing facilities and updating steelworks in the region. The company said that it would begin feasibility studies for the steel processing facility and building a Korean industrial zone in Hunchun.
The steelmaker said that the agreement would allow Posco Engineering and Construction to take part in large-scale projects underway in Jilin province, including those for harbor and urban development. Posco said that it would also strengthen collaboration in other areas, including bio-ethanol production, electric cars.

Pakistan is calling on Vietnamese businesses to pump investment into coal mining and aquaculture sectors, according to the Vietnamese Trade Office in Pakistan,.
With reserves of 180 billion tons, Pakistan is also encouraging foreign businesses to cooperate in building thermo electric power plants.
This consensus was reached during the second session of the Pakistan and Vietnam Inter Governmental Committee held last month in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. During the event, the delegation of 16 Vietnamese businesses met with leading Pakistani enterprises to look for new cooperation opportunities in mining, steel, rubber, electronics, and imports and exports.
The office said that Pakistan praised Vietnam's achievements and experiences in aquaculture and proposed that the Vietnamese Government send experts to assist Pakistani farmers in the sector. The Pakistani Government would offer coastal areas free of charge and other incentives for Vietnamese businesses to raise fish and shrimp. The two countries have agreed to foster exchanges of high-level delegations and market information as well as speed up the bilateral cooperation in investment, trade promotion, agriculture, education, science and technology.
Bilateral trade turnover between Vietnam and Pakistan considerably increased in the recent years. From a modest amount of US$ 10 million in 1999, two-way trade rose to US$ 183 million in 2009. Currently, Pakistan is Vietnam's largest tea importer. Last year, the country imported US$ 46 million worth of Vietnamese tea up 21 percent year-on-year (YoY).
Several agreements on trade, the double taxation avoidance, fisheries and aquaculture have been inked between the two countries to better facilitate mutual collaboration.

Japanese steelmaker Kobe Steel has given public notice of the planned merger with the company of its wholly-owned stainless steel welding consumables manufacturer subsidiary Shinko Taseto Co. Ltd.
According to the public notice, Kobe Steel, as a surviving company, will absorb Shinko Taseto, which will be dissolved upon the merger. Kobe Steel will succeed to the rights and obligations of Shinko Taseto on October 1, 2010.
This year, Kobe Steel's board of directors had passed a resolution to effect an absorption-type merger of Shinko Taseto. Merging Shinko Taseto into Kobe Steel's welding business will integrate operations by improving business efficiency, facilitating communication, and maintaining stable profits, the company said.
The merger will be conducted through simplified procedures under Article 796.3 of the Companies Act of Japan under which approval of the meeting of Kobe Steel shareholders will not be required. Moreover, Kobe Steel will neither issue new shares nor increase its capital, as it owns all shares in Shinko Taseto.

Japanese steelmakers, the world's second-biggest producers of the alloy, and consumers such as automakers may follow Mitsui and Co. in entering the growing iron ore swaps market, according to Credit Suisse Group AG.
Deutsche Bank AG started offering iron ore swaps with Credit Suisse in 2008 at the instigation of BHP Billiton Ltd. the world's biggest mining company, which was dissatisfied with the way ore in the estimated US$ 200 billion-a-year market was priced. Vale SA, Rio Tinto Group and BHP, the three biggest suppliers, this year scrapped a 40-year tradition of setting prices annually in favour of quarterly contracts.
“We've been actively engaged with more than a dozen clients in Japan who are at various stages of assessing the opportunity and Mitsui was the first one to trade,” Alex Toone, Head of Commodities for Asia Pacific at Credit Suisse, said. Credit Suisse was a party in Japan's first iron ore swap trade, completed by Mitsui, he said.
“Things have moved amazingly quickly this year, much faster than perhaps even we would have expected,” Toone said. “There are people who are proactively looking at it in China, people in Korea, people in Japan. There are more participants in this market every single day.”
Trading in the swaps allows users to fix prices in advance for single cargoes. The market may grow 10-fold to 360 million metric tons annually over the next two years, Credit Suisse estimated in February. Interest in the swaps has increased following the shift to quarterly prices, Toone said.
Tom Albanese, Rio's chief executive officer, said, “What we've seen over the past several years is that the iron ore markets are naturally evolving to shorter.

According to the Export and Import Division of South Korea's Ministry of Knowledge Economy, in June this year the country recorded a record high trade surplus of US$ 7.5 billion.
In June, South Korea's exports climbed 32.4 percent year on year to US$ 42.7 billion. The export volume in most key industries except steel was up significantly. During the month in question, South Korea's steel exports declined by 6.1 percent, its automobile exports rose by 62 percent, its household appliance exports increased by 41.6 percent, while the country's ship exports improved by 31.8 percent, all compared to June 2009.
Among the major export partners of South Korea, the country's exports to China increased by 25.3 percent. Exports to the US rose by 24.2 percent, to Japan by 23.2 percent, to ASEAN countries by 28.4 percent, to the European Union by 36.2 percent, to Latin America by 69.6 percent, while decreases of 18.5 percent and 24.6 percent were recorded in its exports to the Middle East and Oceania respectively, all compared to the same month last year.
Meanwhile, in June, South Korea's imports rose 36.9 percent year on year, reaching $35.2 billion. Inbound shipments of raw materials went up by 27 percent while imports of capital and consumer goods increased by 26.1 percent and 18.5 percent year on year, respectively.

Japanese steel giant Nippon Steel Corporation has announced its decision to construct a new plant in Vietnam for the production of steel pipe piles and steel pipe sheet piles, jointly with state-owned Vietnam Steel Corporation and five Japanese trading companies, namely Metal One Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation, Marubeni-Itochu Steel Inc., Hanwa Co., Ltd and Nippon Steel Trading Co. Ltd.
"We are confident that this investment in Vietnam to create a local supply capability will accelerate the growth in consumption of structural steel materials," the company said.
Nippon also said that it has obtained an investment license for such a project from the relevant local authority. The company said that it would be the first production base of Nippon Steel for steel for construction uses outside of Japan.

South Korea's Hyundai Steel has cut the purchasing price for domestic scrap by 10,000 – 15,000 won/ton since July 1, 2010.
Due to the weak demand, South Korea's scrap market kept weak. In addition, the import of scrap kept decreasing as many mills cut production due to high stocks.