POSCO aims to triple its operating profit by 2030

POSCO CEO Kim Hag-dong, sixth from left, poses with employees during a ceremony to declare the steelmaker's new vision at its headquarters in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, Thursday. Courtesy of POSCO

By Park Jae-hyuk

POSCO on Thursday unveiled its plan to increase its annual global production capacity to 52 million tons by 2030, to generate 100 trillion won ($78 billion) in annual revenue and triple its operating profit.

Under the plan, the steelmaking unit of POSCO Group aims to be the No. 1 global steelmaker in terms of profitability and one of the world's five largest steelmakers in terms of production capacity.

The announcement was made during the company's ceremony that day to declare its new vision: Better World with Green Steel.

“POSCO will occupy the blue ocean of the futuristic steelmaking industry in advance, by leading the industry's evolution through the integration of various cutting-edge technologies,” POSCO CEO Kim Hag-dong said in his congratulatory remarks. “As the first mover in the new iron age and as the leading producer of eco-friendly futuristic materials, let's lead the new era.”

He also emphasized that this is the right moment for the company to cope with the changing global trends for sustainable growth.

POSCO said it plans to focus on upgrading its portfolios by producing environmentally friendly and high value-added products in the future.

Its steel mill in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, for example, will begin to operate an electric furnace in 2026 to produce low-carbon, high-quality steel, so that the company can achieve its goals of reducing carbon emissions by 2030 and supplying 10 million tons of low-carbon products.

POSCO will also build additional hyper non-oriented electrical steel factories in Korea and North America to produce 1 million tons of electrical steel worldwide.

At its existing overseas factories in Indonesia and India, the steelmaker will also pursue eco-friendly manufacturing, with a plan to double the production capacity of its foreign plants by 2030 from 5 million tons in 2022.