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SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- Hyundai Steel Co., South Korea's No. 2 steelmaker, said Monday its second-quarter net profit plunged 67.6 percent due to a prolonged downturn in the construction sector.

Net profit for the three-month period that ended in June fell to a net profit of 12.1 billion won (US$8.5 million) from 37.4 billion won in the same period last year, the company said in a press release.

"In particular, a prolonged slump in the construction industry cut into the quarterly bottom line," a company spokesperson said.

The results beat market expectations. The average analyst estimate for net profit stood at 10.1 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data arm of Yonhap News Agency.

Operating profit fell 43.3 percent to 57.7 billion won in the second quarter from 101.8 billion won a year ago.

Sales, on the other hand, rose 2.7 percent to 6.1 trillion won from 5.94 trillion won during the same period.

"To bolster profitability, the company will explore opportunities to supply steel products for the country's major energy and artificial intelligence (AI) data center projects," the release said.

For the first six months of the year, net loss widened to 27.2 billion won from 17 billion won in the year-earlier period.

Operating profit declined 11.2 percent to 73.4 billion won in the first half from 82.7 billion won a year earlier. Sales rose 2.9 percent to 11.84 trillion won from 11.5 trillion won.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Steel is building a 2.7 million-ton-per-year electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mill in Louisiana, scheduled to be completed in 2029, to supply automotive steel to U.S. plants operated by its affiliates, Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp.

The company has said it aims to begin construction of the plant in the third quarter and start commercial production in the first quarter of 2029.

Hyundai Steel announced the $5.8 billion investment plan in March last year as part of Hyundai Motor Group's broader U.S. investment strategy.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr

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