Typhoon Hinnamnor shuts all POSCO furnaces for 1st time in 49 years

POHANG, North Gyeongsang Province – POSCO Holdings Inc., the holding company of South Korea’s steel giant, said on Wednesday it has shut down all of its three furnaces in Pohang for the first time in 49 years in the wake of Typhoon Hinnamnor that hit the country the previous day.

POSCO’s furnaces 2 to 4 that manufacture hot-rolled steel, reinforced steel and stainless steel have been put on hold as many parts of the steel mill, including power lines, were flooded due to the super typhoon, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The company’s furnace 1 in the port city has already been mothballed as the facility is old.

The closure of the plant, which produces 15 million tons of steel a year, marks the first time POSCO has shut down all its facilities in Pohang since the company began operations in 1973.

The steelmaker posted 18.49 trillion won ($13.3 billion) in sales revenue from the steel plant in Pohang last year.

SHIPBUILDERS, ELECTRONICS FIRMS MAY BE AFFECTED

POSCO said it plans to restart the furnaces within 10 days, but industry watchers said it may take as long as two weeks because the company must replace almost all electricity systems at the furnaces.

If the recovery work is protracted, shipbuilders will likely be affected by the rising prices of steel plates for shipbuilding.

Home appliance firms such as Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. may be forced to turn to Dongkuk Steel Mill Co. if POSCO’s restart of its furnaces runs behind schedule, industry officials said.

Hyundai Motor Co., Korea’s top automaker, is receiving steel from Hyundai Steel Co. and POSCO’S steel mill in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province.

Write to Il-Hwan Kim and Yong-Hoon Kwon at lovepen@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.