Posco Holdings celebrates formation, promises Pohang return

Posco Chairman Choi Jeong-woo waves a flag celebrating the establishment of Posco Holdings. [POSCO]

Posco Holdings celebrated its formation Wednesday with a ceremony held at Posco Center in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, with 80 employees attending while others viewed the event online.

The company, which was recently formed, owns Posco, the formerly-listed steelmaker. Posco subsidiaries, like Posco International and Posco E&C, became subsidiaries of the holding company.

"The establishment of Posco Holdings will be the new beginning," Posco Chairman Choi Jeong-woo said during the ceremony. "The holding company will have the flexibility to meet the demands of the times, as well as the expertise so that we can always have the competitive edge in the businesses we run."

Around 200 employees who worked in the Gangnam office will move to Posco Holdings.

Choi said that he aims to focus on seven core businesses: steelmaking, secondary business materials, lithium and nickel, hydrogen, energy, construction and infrastructure and agricultural biotechnology.

The company plans to expand its production capacity of anode and cathode materials by 680,000 tons by 2030. The capacity of lithium production will be expanded to 220,000 tons and nickel by 140,000 tons, it said.

In the hydrogen business, the company will concentrate on constructing hydrogen production facilities in foreign countries, with the goal of having the production capacity of 500,000 tons of blue and green hydrogen by 2030, and 7 million tons by 2050.

Blue hydrogen is manufactured in the same way as the gray hydrogen but utilizes carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies to capture and bury the emitted carbon deep underground or convert it into other elements through chemical reactions. Green hydrogen, which uses renewable energy such as solar and wind for its production, is considered as the ultimate eco-friendly option.

Posco adds the company's energy business will be shifted to eco-friendly businesses, including liquefied natural gas, ammonia and renewable energy.

Posco on Feb. 25 announced that it will move the headquarters of Posco Holdings to Pohang, North Gyeongsang, from the current Gangnam location, withdrawing its original plan of placing it in Seoul.

The announcement came as politicians and civic groups in Pohang, where the steel manufacturer is headquartered, lashed out at the plan, demanding the headquarters be in Pohang. They worried that the formation of the holding company and headquartering it in Seoul might take resources from the port city, which is heavily reliant on the steel industry.

"Since the shareholders agreed the establishment of Posco Holdings on Jan. 28, there has been continuous misunderstanding between Posco and the Pohang people that we will leave Pohang," Posco said in a statement. "The headquarters of Posco Holdings will be moved to Pohang by March 2023, and the new research center will also be located in Pohang."

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]