Recovery in Korea?

摘要

Hysco's other Japanese suppliers have still not settled, and they are in no hurry to do so. They claim to detect prospects of higher prices for coil in the first half of 2002, and hope this will strength their bargaining position retrospectively. One factor is Posco's relining of a Kwangyang blast furnace and maintenance and repair work on a HR line. This will leave it short of coil during the second quarter. It will have little interest in cutting prices at home or abroad-especially at home.The Korean economy is beginning to recover from loss of exports to the USA and is now held back mainly by shortages of investment funds. Some of the chaebols are cash rich but until now have been forbidden to take large equity positions in unrelated companies as part of the post-crisis reform programme imposed in 1998 to restructure the Korean economy. The government is gradually easing curbs to make good deficiencies in the capacity of industrial banking.