POSCO to Expand Processing Center’s Output to 5 MT

POSCO expands flat steel processing centers globally. The firm aims to increase steel centers to 50 sites with 5 million tonnes of total steel processing volume and US$ 5 billion of sales as early as 2011 for US$ 500 million of investment.

POSCO formerly plans to expand the centers to 40 sites with 4 million tonnes of volume and US$ 4 billion of sales by 2010. The firm expected the processing bases increase to 42 sites with 2.4 million tonnes of volume and US$ 2.2 billion of sales by the end of 2009 while the bases were 35 sites with 2.15 million tonnes of volume and 2 billion yen of sales in 2008.

Despite global steel demand has already bottomed out, the demand remains low compared with the peak except in China and India. POSCO tries to build the processing sites carefully more than before while the firm tries to improve the just-in-time delivery service.

POSCO started continuous galvanizing line with annual 400,000 tonnes of production capacity in Mexico while the firm starts operation of cold roll mill in Vietnam with 1.2 million tonnes per year of capacity soon. The firm launches No.7 CGL with 500,000 tonnes of capacity at Gwangyang works in 2011 and CGL with 450,000 tonnes of capacity in India in 2012.

POSCO plans to increase consolidating crude steel output to more than 50 million tonnes in 2018 from 34.7 million tonnes in 2008.