Affected by a drop in makers profitability and consequent production cut in the wake of excessive sales competition. Production and sales of ordinary sections this year were found to be hovering below the previous years levels due to economic uncertainties and slowdown in the related consuming sectors. Particularly, each makers output of angles and channels sharply decreased in the first half of this year compared with the same period of 2002, and sales of most products excluding a small number of particular items were tallied to have stayed at the year-earlier periods level or gotten somewhat lower due to a slump in export markets. According to the latest statistics from Korea Iron & Steel Association, total production of angles and channels plunged 10.3 percent and 22.65 percent, respectively, year-on-year to 383,480 tons and 157,493 tons.
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