South Korean steelmaker Posco said it had completed construction of an automotive steel plant in Thailand as it looks to grow its presence in south-east Asia.
Posco is a major global manufacturer of automotive steel plate, with output last year of 8.7m tonnes – which it said was equivalent to 10% of global sales. This accounted for 25% of the company’s revenues.
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The new US$300m facility, managed by Posco-Thailand Coated Steel, has a continuous galvanising steel plate line with an annual capacity of 450,000 tonnes. It is located in Amata City Industrial Estate in Rayong, on the country’s eastern seaboard.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by 200 people, including Thailand’s deputy prime minister Tanasak Patimaptragorn.
The plant will supply steel plates to Toyota and Nissan’s local assembly plants initially but the company hopes to expand its business to other vehicle manufacturers both in Thailand and in other countries in south-east Asia.
Overall vehicle production in Thailand is expected to fall just short of 2m units this year. Posco said new capacity is being created in Thailand and elsewhere in the region by Chinese manufacturers, which is seen as a key opportunity to expand sales.
Posco first entered established a factory in Thailand in 1998 for processing steel plates for consumer electronics and took over Thai cold rolled steel plate company Thainox in 2011.
