POSCO restarts key hot rolling mill at typhoon-hit plant

POSCO, the world’s sixth-largest steelmaker, resumed operations of a key hot rolling mill at a typhoon-hit plant in South Korea earlier than expected, taking another step closer to fully normalizing the factory next month.

On Dec. 15, the country’s largest steel producer restarted its No. 2 hot rolling mill, which processes 5 million tons of slab, about a third of Pohang Steel Works' output hammered by Typhoon Hinnamnor in September. The storm forced the company to shut down all three of its blast furnaces for the first time in 49 years.

POSCO on Sunday said it could restore the facility earlier than expected thanks to India’s JSW Steel Ltd., which provided it with components manufactured for its own hot rolling mill. Earlier, POSCO had forecast a unit restart in the first quarter of 2023.

“The restart of the No. 2 hot rolling mill allowed 13 units out of the 18 rolling mills to operate,” POSCO said in a statement.

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Hot-rolled products are used in various industries such as the construction, automobile and oil sectors. POSCO had been producing hot-rolled steel at the No. 1 unit in Pohang and a plant in Gwangyang that was not hit by the typhoon.

The company aims to restart other units, which have remained idle, to fully normalize plant operations by January in the port city of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province.

Shares in POSCO Holdings Inc. on Monday closed up 0.9% at 281,500 won ($216) on the Korean bourse, outperforming the 0.33% loss in the wider Kospi.

The steelmaker’s holding company missed market estimates for its profit in the third quarter due to the shutdown of Pohang Steel Works, which produced 16.9 million tons of crude steel last year, 44% of the company’s entire output and 24% of the country’s production.

Write to Kyung-Min Kang at kkm1026@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.