With new plant, Posco closer to tapping 3 northern provinces

Posco, Korea’s leading steelmaker, said yesterday it has completed a car steel processing plant in northeastern China as part of efforts to expand its presence in China’s steel market.

The new plant in Jilin Province, initially capitalized at $165 million, will process 200,000 tons of cold and hot-rolled steel annually. The completion came one year after Posco and a Chinese steelmaker jointly began working on it in August 2011.

In June last year, the Korean firm signed a deal with Tonghua Iron and Steel Group, the largest steelmaker in Jilin, to set up a joint venture that processes steel. Posco owns 60 percent of the JV.

Posco said steel products from the plant will be supplied to automakers in northeast China. The top steelmaker has been keen to advance into China’s three northeastern provinces - Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, which expect to see their economies grow rapidly in the next decade, Posco officials said.

Yonhap