South Korea’s POSCO Holdings Inc. reported that the company had a net loss of 321 billion won in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to a net profit of 550 billion won in the preceding quarter and a net loss of 737 billion won in the same period a year ago.

The company said that its financial performance was affected by lower prices of carbon steel and lithium products, which impacted its steel and battery material segments.

In the whole year of 2023, POSCO Holdings’ net profit dropped by 48% to around 1.85 trillion won, the operating profit slid by 27% to 3.53 trillion won, and the revenue decreased by 9% to 77.13 trillion won.

In terms of production, this steelmaker produced a total of nearly 380,000 tons of stainless steel in the last quarter of 2023, falling by 3.6% quarter on quarter, but it had a year-on-year surge of 151% due to the flood damage caused by Typhoon Hinnamnor in the same period of 2022.

The company targeted steel sales at around 33 million tons for this year, keeping a similar volume in the previous year.