South Korea to supply state held nonferrous metals at lower prices

South Korea plans to supply state held nonferrous metals at lower prices temporarily as part of efforts to ease price hikes driven by growing demand for such materials.

The Public Procurement Service said in a press release that prices of copper will be lowered by 2% from the current level, while prices of aluminum, zinc, lead and nickel will decline by 1%, respectively.

The price cut will continue until late April 2011 to help ease price hikes, particularly during the period when demand for such materials usually spikes.

The move is in line with the government's recent efforts to tame inflation that seems to be rising faster than expected due to rising oil and raw materials prices.

The office said that soaring prices of raw materials prices, including nonferrous metal, are hurting small and medium size companies by raising their overall production costs.