South Korea's biggest steelmaker POSCO might cut production output in March due to decreasing demand from automakers and shipbuilders, the company's CEO Chung Joon-yang said Friday.

"We expect output reduction of up to 800,000 tons in the first three months of the year," Chung Joon-yang told reporters after being appointed as the chief of POSCO.

More output cuts will be made if demand does not recover after the first half of the year, he added.

"If the current downturn ends in the first half, our production cut will be only about 2 million tons, but if it's extended to two to three years, we may have to trim outputs by 30 percent," Chung said.

POSCO announced earlier to reduce its output of crude steel by around 200,000 tons in February, following a reduction of 570,000 tons during the two previous months.

According to POSCO, the sales of the company are expected to fall by up to 12 percent this year and its steel output could drop by as much as 12 percent to 29 million tons.

Source: Xinhua