Led by a 18.3% surge in exports to 50,800 tons despite a drop of 4.7% in domestic sales to 96,000 tons Exports are leading a rise in the entire sales of domestic electrolytic galvanized steel sheets (EGI). The overall monthly sales performance by domestic EGI makers including POSCO, Hyundai HYSCO, Union Steel, Doowon Steel and Kyeongweon Steel in April posted 147,600 tons, up 2.1% from the same month last year. It was 10.4% higher than in March thanks to the arrival of a seasonal high-demand period. Of those sales, domestic sales stood at 96,800 tons, down 4.7% from a year ago, while exports soared 18.3% from a year earlier to 50,800 tons. Domestic sales jumped 13.2% over the previous month, but the monthly sales of EGI in April were led virtually by exports, if a seasonal factor was taken into consideration. The accumulated sales of EGI from January through April also reached 567,100 tons with a year-on-year rise of 2.0%, but the aggregate domestic sales declined 3.6% from a year ago to 368,800 tons. In contrast, cumulative exports until April surged 14.6% to 198,300 tons from the year-earlier period. Domestic EGI makers appear to be open to criticism from the point of view that theirexports increased high like this in April, while domestic sales decreased, even though small-scale EGIconsumers and distributors complained of supply shortage of EGI in the domestic market. Meanwhile, it is noteworthy that Doowon Steel and Kyeongweon Steel, specialized EGI makers, posted high growth rates in the monthly sales in April that were conspicuously compared with other makers. sunhong@snmnews.com