Korean Dongkuk opens 2nd Mexican color-coated steel plant

Dongkuk Steel Mill Co. opened its second color-coated steel plant in Mexico as South Korea’s third-largest steelmaker aims to expand its presence in overseas markets including the North American country’s electronics and construction sectors.

Dongkuk said on Friday it held a completion ceremony for the coil center in Querétaro, about 220 kilometers (137 miles) northwest of Mexico City, which can process 70,000 tons of color-coated steel a year.

The global major manufacturer of color-coated steel, which invested 18 billion won ($13.9 million) in the factory, broke ground on the facility in February last year and completed its preparations for operations and production this month.

FOR SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS

The plant is set to supply products to global electronics makers in Mexico, especially Samsung Electronics Co., which manufactures home appliances such as TVs, refrigerators and washing machines in the country.

Dongkuk, however, aims to use the site as a base to increase its presence in the building materials sector. The company plans to target Mexico with its premium product Luxteel.

The company has already been running the other coil center with an annual capacity of 120,000 tons in Monterrey since 2008.

Dongkuk is looking for overseas markets to improve profitability as South Korea’s color-coated steel market was oversupplied.

The firm, which is operating coil centers in three foreign countries – India, Thailand and Mexico – acquired a 15% stake in VSSC Steel Center LLC in Vietnam last year to raise its overseas capacity of a combined 380,000 tons a year.

Dongkuk aims to increase global sales of color-coated steel by 44.4% to 650,000 tons by 2030 with new sales bases in other regions such as Europe and Oceania.

(Updated with a new picture)

Write to Seo-Woo Jang at suwu@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.