Shipbuilder to raise production in China

Samsung Heavy Industries said it is expanding production of ship parts in China by 67% to reduce its labour costs and lessen the impact of steel price increases. The Korean shipbuilder has invested $70 million to raise production capacity at its Chinese unit to 200,000 tonnes of ?blocks? for ship?s hulls by the end of this year. The unit currently has the capacity for 120,000 tonnes.

Samsung, Daewoo and Hyundai are all trying to lower costs to offset rising steel prices. Daewoo announced in April that it had a loss of $31 million in the first quarter because of rising steel prices.