South Korea's leading steelmaker Posco estimated Monday its first-quarter operating profit hit the highest point in 10 years on robust demand amid global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Operating profit for the January-March quarter jumped to 1.55 trillion won ($1.4 billion) from 705.3 billion won during the same period of last year, the company said in a regulatory filing.

It marked the highest quarterly operating profit since the steelmaker reported 1.7 trillion won in the second quarter of 2011.

The hike came as Posco raised prices of its products amid strong demand for steel used in cars, ships and construction.

Sales rose 9.9 percent to 15.99 trillion won in the first quarter from 14.55 trillion won a year ago, it said.

The company plans to release its final quarterly results later this month.

Shares in POSCO rose 0.46 percent to 329,500 won on the Seoul bourse, roughly in line with the broader Kospi's 0.12 percent gain. (Yonhap)