South Korea's top steelmaker Posco said Tuesday it was named the world's most competitive steelmaker in a global industry report for the 12th consecutive year.

In an annual assessment of 35 steelmakers worldwide, global steel information service provider World Steel Dynamics (WSD) gave Posco the top mark of 8.54 points out of 10, according to the South Korean company.

The WSD report, which ranks the steelmakers based on 23 categories, gave top scores for Posco in eight segments, including technological innovation and human resources, the company said.

Posco said the company was highly recognized for its efforts to expand sales of high-end products and boost its competitiveness by carrying out technology-based solution marketing.

US-based Nucor Corp. came next, followed by Russia's Severstal and NLMK Group.

Posco logged an operating income of 3.1 trillion won ($2.63 billion) last year on sales of 20.6 trillion won. (Yonhap)