POSCO to invest $1.98 billion to expand capacity in South Korea

On March 25, South Korean steelmaker POSCO held a shareholders' meeting at which it approved a KRW 2203.4 billion ($1.98 billion) investment plan for the construction of its third FINEX blast furnace, a No. 4 wire rod plant and a new stainless steel plant.
 
POSCO indicated that by building the third FINEX blast furnace it can improve its competitiveness, while by building the No. 4 wire rod plant it will be able to meet the rising demand for wire rod. The planned annual output capacities of the third FINEX blast furnace and the No. 4 wire rod plant are 2 million mt and 0.7 million mt respectively. The new stainless steel plant will produce 400 series stainless steel.
 
According to POSCO's plan, in June 2013 it will complete the construction of the third FINEX blast furnace, while it will carry out the construction of the wire rod plant from December 2011 to May 2013.
 
In its statement, POSCO commented, "South Korea imports 1.24 million mt of wire rod every year, and the establishment of the No. 4 wire rod plant will lower the volume of wire rod imports."