Helped by explosive growth in exports of finished cars and auto knockdowns Production of domestic automobiles took an upturn in May, making a great contribution to a rise in demand for cold-rolled steel sheets (CR). Helped by explosive growth in the exports of finished cars andautomotive knockdowns, the monthly automotive production sharply increased in May compared with the same month last year. It means that demand for such flat products as CR,pickled and oiled steel sheets and galvanized steel sheets, which rely heavily on automotive industry, also increased to that much. According to the latest statistics from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, the monthly automotive production in May posted 283,609 units, up 9.1% from the identical month last year. Accordingly, the aggregate car production from January through May came to 1,389,700 units with a year-on-year drop of 0.1%. If such a trend continues, annual output of domestic automobiles is expected to exceed the previous year's level. Meanwhile, taking a glance at the recent trend of demand for gala-annealed steel sheets (GA), it has grown explosively in automotive industry and become worsen in such sectors as electric home appliances and construction materials particularly in sales to end-users, thus forming polarization in demand. Demand for GA in the distribution market in particular showed a continuing downward trend due to weak buying interest of small and mid-scale end-users. Looking at overall market for CR, however, demandfor such steel materials was still robust, although distribution market was in a slump due to insufficient inventories andslowdown in the market conditions that end-users actually felt. In fact, those primary distributors who are supplying CR to automakers said that their sales volume is on an upward trend. sunhong@snmnews.com