POSCO Chmn. Chung Visits India, Kazakhstan, Ukraine

CEO calls on P.M. Singh seeking support for POSCO’s steel plant project

POSCO officially signed an MOA with Ust-Kamenogorsk Titanium and Magnesium Plant (UKTMP), a Kazakh producer of titanium sponge, to set up a joint venture titanium slab plant in Kazakhstan. Chairman Chung Joon-yang said the value of natural resources in the central Asian country is very high for development. He said POSCO will continue to cooperate with various natural resource development projects in Kazakhstan in the days ahead with the joint venture firm as the starting point. The two signatories will have an equal stake in the new titanium company.

















The new joint venture will build a titanium slab plant, which will use the titanium sponge supplied by UKTMP to produce titanium slabs to be provided to POSCO steel plants in Korea, which will use the mineral in various steel products including stainless steel plates. POSCO will be only the fourth steel plant in the world self-sufficient in titanium when the plant in Kazakhstan goes online, enabling POSCO to mass produce titanium steel products with just a minor supplement of its steel plant facilities. POSCO will then be able to supply titanium steel products to both the domestic and overseas markets, especially to Europe and China. POSCO officially dedicated its second steel plate processing plant in Nagoya, Japan, with the annual capacity to turn out 150,000 tons of steel plates, expanding the Nagoya steel plants’ total annual steel processing capacity to 370,000 tons, the steelmaker announced on Sept. 17.
The steelmaker, the third largest in the world, now operates steel processing plants in three different locations in Japan ― Kyushu, Yokohama and Nagoya.
The second Nagoya steel plate plant will supply steel plates to electronics, industrial machinery, the construction industry and the automobile industry, as the plant is equipped with high-tech facilities to deal with any customer requests for certain steel product forms, the company said. Operating plants in and around Nagoya are a number of automakers, led by Honda, turning out 80,000 cars annually, and car parts makers such as Kayaba and Imasen. The steel giant operates steel plate processing plants in 41 locations in 12 countries around the world to spur sales of steel plates.
In the meantime, Chairman Chung visited India in connection with POSCO’s project to build a steel mill on the subcontinent and called on Indian government leaders including Prime Minister Mamohan Singh on Sept. 17, asking for positive support from the host country’s government. The Prime Minister promised his maximum support for the project, saying that it is as important to India as it is to POSCO, especially on matters related to POSCO’s need to purchase the land for the plant and mineral rights to the iron ores mines in India from Orissa State where the Korean steelmaker plans to build an integrated steel mill. The steelmaker feels that it is very critical to get the problems out of the way one by one even if it looks as though too much time is being taken to build the steel plant, as getting all the problems out of the way may be the quickest way to build the plant.
Chairman Chung thanked the top Indian government leader for the support thus far for the project. He said POSCO will provide social services to the local residents in the area of welfare, especially in education, job training and providing free lunch to the needy children in the local community.
The POSCO chairman’s meeting with the Indian prime minister has been an occasion to reconfirm the value of the POSCO project to both India and POSCO. In addition, the POSCO CEO called on a number of high-ranking Orissa State government officials led by Premier Naveen Patnaik, Lower House Member of the Federal Congress of India Panda, Minister of the Mineral Ministry Handique, among officials of the Orissa State government, members of the Federal Congress and the Central government to ask for their support for the steel plant project. nw

Chairman Chung Joon-yang of POSCO shakes hands with President Victor Yushchenko of Ukraine whom he visited following POSCO’s exchange of an MOU on cooperation on steel products with Metinvest Holding Co. of Ukraine Oct. 6.

Chairman Chung Joon-yang of POSCO talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his office in New Delhi Sept. 17 in connection with POSCO’s project to build an integrated steel plant in Orissa State in India.