South Korean tube mills are currently faced with two difficult situations. One being the shortage of material and while on the other hand, sales has been weak and the situation is currently not showing any signs of improvement. Some mills said they now run the processing only when there is material available. Sales profit for South Korean cold rolling mills has increased in the third quarter because prices were increased in August and they used cheaper material for processing. But in fourth quarter, because of smaller price increase for cold rolled products as well as the increase in the price of zinc price, mills could see profit levels staying low. (Aug. 18)