South Korean steel producer POSCO has recently announced that it started
construction of its sixth
automotive steel sheet plant in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province.
The company officials stated that when the continuous
galvanized plant, which is expected to produce 400'000 tons per annum, is completed in May 2006,
automotive steel sheet-producing capacity at Gwangyang mill of POSCO will increase to 2 million tons.
Meanwhile, currently POSCO operates four
galvanized steel plants and the fifth one is scheduled to be completed by October 2005.
For the project, POSCO will invest Won 190 billion ($165 million). The capacity expansion is stated to be advantageous for local
automotive sector.