Posco to resume operation of blast furnaces on Sept. 10

Posco employees help with recovery at its Pohang steel plant in North Gyeongsang on Wednesday. [POSCO]

Posco will resume operation of three blast furnaces at its Pohang steel mill on Sept. 10 after shutting them down when Typhoon Hinnamnor hit the facility.

Power transmission facilities will go back online on Thursday, while the facility's liquefied natural gas power plants will resume operations on Friday.

"We are in the process of restoring the plant very quickly so that we can stably operate it during the Chuseok harvest festival holidays," it said.

A total of 86 massive water pumps and emergency generators from the Gyeongbuk Fire Department and the country's three biggest shipbuilders were mobilized to help in the recovery.

Posco halted operations of its Pohang factory on Wednesday for the first time in its 49-year history. Posco is Korea’s largest — and the world’s fifth largest — steelmaker.

The Pohang plant produced some 16.9 million tons of steel products annually as of 2021, including 2.2 million tons of hot-rolled steel and 3.4 million tons of thick plates. They are used in various industries including electronics makers, automakers and shipbuilders.

Sales from the Pohang plant accounted for 24.2 percent of Posco Holdings’ total sales last year. Posco is a fully-owned subsidiary of Posco Holdings.

Analyst Park Hyun-wook from Hyundai Motor Securities predicted that the shutdown will cost the company 40 billion won ($28 million) in lost sales for every day it is closed.

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