By Kwanwoo Jun

Posco Holdings posted lower first-quarter net profit, dented in part by tariffs the Trump administration imposed on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S.

The South Korean steelmaker said Thursday that both production and sales of steel goods declined in the wake of repair work at its steel mills, and that it faced difficult business conditions, compounded by the global tariff war and economic uncertainty. Higher steel prices and cost-saving efforts partly helped improve profitability, it said.

Net profit came in at 344.00 billion won, equivalent to $241.0 million, for the January-March quarter, down 43% from a year earlier, the company said. That was largely in line with a FactSet-compiled consensus estimate of 335.93 billion won.

Revenue fell 3.4% to 17.437 trillion won, while operating profit was down 2.6% at 568.00 billion won.

Posco said its main steel business returned to net profit in the first quarter after a loss in the previous quarter, helped partly by an increase in carbon-steel prices despite lower output.

Net loss in its energy-material business, which includes its battery-making affiliate Posco Future M, narrowed significantly in the first quarter.

In response to Trump's 25% duties on steel and aluminum imports, Posco said it will expand cooperation with Hyundai Motor to make joint investments to address global trade restrictions and build a global supply chain, excluding China, in the electric-vehicle battery material sector.

The Korean steelmaker earlier this week said it plans to make an equity investment in Hyundai Motor's $5.8 billion steel mill to be built in Louisiana, a business cooperation that could help the companies avoid or mitigate the impact of U.S. tariffs.

Posco said it plans to invest 8.8 trillion won this year, marginally lower than the 9.0 trillion won set in 2024.

Analysts have said that the oversupply of steel products, especially Chinese goods flooding local markets, could add to headwinds the company and the broader industry faces.

The South Korean government recently moved to impose provisional antidumping duties on Chinese hot-rolled thick steel plates from April.

Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 24, 2025 06:55 ET (10:55 GMT)

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