Next month Hyundai Steel is completing blast furnace # 3 in Dangjin, South Korea. At the same time, other metallurgists are developing plans to respond to the emergence of a new giant.
Following the commissioning of the blast furnace, the metallurgical plant will significantly increase the volume of steel supplies to its customers such as Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors. The rivals are confident that they will eventually lose significant market share. According to the company, Hyundai Steel will complete construction of its blast furnace # 3 by September 27, 2013.
Of the 4 million tonnes of planned steel production per year, the company will produce 400,000 tonnes of high quality steel and 25,000 tonnes of iron powder for use in the sintering process of auto parts such as engines and transmissions. The rest of the molten iron will be used to make coiled steel (2 meters) and thick plates (1.5 meters).
A Hyundai Steel spokesman said that "Most of the plates will be supplied to Hyundai Hysco and not many products will enter the market." POSCO and Dongkuk, the country's largest plate producers, also believe the new blast furnace in Dangjin will not have much of an impact on the metal market. In addition, Hyundai Steel has not yet reached the required level of production of high quality thick plate to create competition in this direction.
