Posted on 25 Apr 2022
South Korea's POSCO posted an 8.3% fall year on year in its first-quarter crude steel production to 8.77 million mt, POSCO Holdings, which wholly owns the steelmaker, said April 25, citing revamping works.
The steelmaker's Q1 output fell 8.2% from Q4 as crude steel production capacity utilization rates averaged 87.4% over Q1, down from 93.2% in Q4 2021 and from 95.3% in Q1 2021.
POSCO's No. 4 blast furnace at Gwangyang has been undergoing improvement works since Feb. 11, that are expected to be completed on June 10.
Also, POSCO permanently shut its No. 1 blast furnace at its Pohang steelworks at end-December 2021. Due the shutdown of the furnace, POSCO expects to shed about 1 million mt/year of crude steel production but will make up for the loss by operating its remaining eight furnaces efficiently.
Similarly, POSCO's Q1 output of steel products fell 5.2% on the year and dipped 3.4% from the quarter before, to 8.45 million mt.
The fall in steel products was attributed to revamping works at hot-rolled coil, wire rod and plate plants at Gwangyang and Pohang.
In line with the lower output of steel products, steel sales also fell in Q1 to 8.45 million mt, down 4.1% from Q1 2021 and 2% from Q4 2021.
"Sales volume declined, mostly from HR products as production decreased," POSCO Holdings said. The holding company was set up on March 2 when the POSCO Group switched to a holding company system and vertically spun off the steelmaking business.
POSCO Holdings' main goals are to chart out future business, research and development, and investment while POSCO focuses on "greening" and growing its steel production.
By the end of 2022, the steelmaker plans to make a decision on building an electric arc furnace "in order to meet the demand for low-carbon products."
POSCO had projected its crude steel production at 36.5 million mt in 2022, down 4.7% from 2021, citing tighter steel supply amid global carbon emissions cuts. It plans to raise its global crude steel production capacity to 68 million mt/year in 2030 from about 46 million mt/year in 2021.
Source:Platts
