South Korea’s No. 1 steelmaker Posco, which began its saga in the south of the nation in the 1960s, now seeks to dominate the global steel industry on premium products and smart factory operations.

It runs two steel mills in Korea, one in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, and another in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, constructed in 1992. Worldwide, it operates factories and business networks across some 50 countries.

“Posco has rapidly expanded into about 50 countries in the past 25 years. Backed by premium giga steel and quality steel products, we will pursue to become the world‘s best steelmaker,” the company said as it celebrates its semicentennial anniversary this month.

It has been particularly boosting global marketing efforts of giga steel, which refers to ultrahigh-tensile strength steel rated at more than 1 gigapascal.

With aims to expand presence in North and South America to tap some of the world‘s biggest automobile markets, Posco constructed a plant that can produce 400,000 metric tons of automotive steel sheets annually in Mexico in 2009, the company said.

It also set up a steel service center in the US that specializes in shaping automotive steel sheets in 2010, forming an efficient supply route connected to the Mexico plant.

The Wire Rod Processing Center built last year for wire rod steel has also helped Posco supply quality products to auto companies and auto parts makers there, the company said.

Another important operation for Posco is in China.

Starting with its joint venture in Tianjin, a major port city in northeastern China, set up in 1994, it currently operates four branches and 11 steel service centers there.

Posco‘s first steel wire service center there opened in Suzhou, a city west of Shanghai, in 2004. The center has sold an accumulated 5 million tons of steel sheets as of last year. 

Now, Posco is also actively spreading out in Southeast Asia.

Indonesia hosts the steelmaker’s first integrated steel mill in Southeast Asia in Krakatau Steel industrial area. The facility built in 2013 has the capacity to make 3 million tons of steel annually, the company said.

Krakatau Posco has become the top-selling steelmaker in Southeast Asia, surpassing sales of over 10 million tons in four years between 2013 and 2017.

Seeking to target India’s domestic market with a population of 1.2 billion people, Posco has built a factory there in 2014, the company said.

It currently supplies steel plates to Indian carmaker Mahindra & Mahindra, Indian two-wheeler and three-wheeler manufacturing company Bajaj Auto and other leading Indain automakers and auto parts companies. 

By Kim Bo-gyung (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)