South Korean steel maker Posco said it had completed construction of a new plant in China dedicated to steel plate for the local auto industry, in collaboration with local steelmaker HBIS Group. The factory had been under construction since January 2022.

The plant, in Tangshan, Hebei province, is operated by Hagang Pohang, a 50:50 joint venture between Posco and HBIS. It has capacity for 450,000 tons of steel per year.

At the end of 2021, Hagang Pohang acquired Posco’s Guangdong CGL steel plant which also has capacity of 450,000 tons. An additional plant with similar capacity is currently under construction with completion scheduled for May 2024. Once this is completed, the JV will have three plants with total combined capacity of 1.35m tons of sheet steel a year.

Posco Group chairman Choi Jeong-woo, speaking at the opening ceremony for the new plant, said: "It is meaningful to inaugurate the world's top level automotive steel sheet facility after we agreed to pursue a joint venture based on the high technical expertise and experience possessed by both companies in 2019."