South Korean steel goliath POSCO has decided to make a second investment in Turkey, following the launch of its Bursa plant in October this year.
According to a December 17 joint release by POSCO and the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPAT), POSCO will construct a $350 million stainless steel plant in Kocaeli, Turkey.
The greenfield investment will include a stainless steel cold rolling mill and initially create employment for 1,000 people directly and indirectly. The annual production capacity of the plant will be 200,000 mt, while its groundbreaking is slated for the first quarter of 2011.
Commenting on the investment, ISPAT President Dr. Huseyin Aslan said that the agency had been closely monitoring POSCO, given Turkey's increasing demand for stainless steel products, which amounted to 210,000 mt in 2009. "This investment will enable us to meet Turkey's stainless steel demand, and to stop importing these products for the first time. Furthermore, by means of POSCO's new investment, Turkey will become a major hub for Eastern European, Middle Eastern and CIS countries," he pointed out.
The joint release stressed that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's meeting with POSCO's executive management during the recent G-20 meetings in South Korea had accelerated the investment decision.
Meanwhile, commenting on the investment decision, POSCO CEO Mr. Chung Joon-yang said, "The construction of steelworks in Turkey is the cornerstone of POSCO's century-old history. We see this project as overwhelmingly positive for both POSCO and for Turkey."
As SteelOrbis previously reported, on October 27 this year POSCO held a ceremony to mark the commissioning of its new flat steel processing plant POSCO-TNPC in Nilufer, Bursa, Turkey. POSCO commenced the construction of the $24 million plant with 170,000 mt annual capacity in 2009, targeting the highly active automotive sector in Bursa.