Major Chinese steelmaker Hebei Iron & Steel Group (HBIS) and South Korean steelmaker POSCO have inked a cooperation agreement to establish a joint venture to produce automotive steel in Tangshan, Hebei Province, announced by HBIS. Accordingly, both parties will respectively invest $300 million in setting up a hot dip galvanized plant.
The new plant will start construction in January 2022 and will be put into operation in December 2023, with an expected HDG capacity of 900,000 mt. Moreover, 450,000 mt of HDG capacity in Shunde in Guangdong Province will also be included in the new JV, creating a total of 1.35 million mt of HDG capacity annually.
Market players think the improving auto market will boost the demand for steel, which is the main reason which has attracted POSCO to China.
