POSCO, Nippon Steel to build furnace in Korea

Archiv – POSCO Co., Korea’s largest steelmaker, says it will form a joint venture with Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. to build a rotary hearth furnace in its main plant in southern Korea.Japan / Korea | POSCO Co., Korea’s largest steelmaker, says it will form a joint venture with Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. to build a rotary hearth furnace in its main plant in southern Korea.
The furnace, which will set up in January next year in Pohang, 374 kilometers south of Seoul, is the first manufacturing venture between POSCO and Nippon Steel, which formed a strategic alliance in August 2000 to fend off foreign hostile takeover bids.
POSCO says it will own 70% of the joint venture with paid-in capital of US$42.5 million. Nippon will hold the remaining shares. The decision was approved at POSCO’s board meeting in India last week. At the meeting, POSCO Chief Executive Officer Lee Ku-taek told reporters the company plans to begin construction of its US$12-billion plant in India in April next year. POSCO’s plan to build the factory has been disrupted as local people have protested against being moved from the proposed site of the plant.