On September 2, Prime Ministry Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPAT) announced that South Korean steel giant POSCO will make an initial greenfield investment of $24 million to establish a steel service center with an annual capacity of 170,000 metric tons in Bursa. The products of the planned service center will be used by the automotive industry. The services will include cutting, slitting and blanking of steel sheets.
The construction of the new plant is scheduled to commence by the end of the current year and production is planned to start in 2010.
The city of Bursa, located in Turkey's northwestern region of Marmara, is the headquarters of the Turkish automotive industry, and is also close to Turkey's second main automotive center, Kocaeli. In the first seven months of the current year, Turkey produced 480,275 motor vehicle units and it exports approximately 71 percent of its motor vehicle output.
Commenting on the new project, the general director of POSCO-TOPC, POSCO's Turkey-based subsidy, Cheol Min said, "Our investment in Turkey will have an impetus effect in the region."
It is also heard that, in the future the company plans to get into coated steel production within the framework of this investment.