Steel industry faces tougher environmental regulations

South Korea's increasingly stringent environmental regulations are hampering the steel industry, which is already plagued by falling sales and rising raw material prices.

Last week, three regional governments representing South Chuncheon Province, North Gyeongsang Province and South Jeolla Province pushed local steel companies Posco and Hyundai Steel to shut down their steel mills for 10 days due to violations of the Clean Air Law.

Provincial governments said Posco's Gwangyang and Pohang steel mills and Hyundai Steel's Tangjin plants had opened safety valves, called vent valves, while servicing their blast furnaces, releasing pollutants into the air.

A rare local government decision came after the authoritative interpretation of the law by the central government, which said the air pollution that hit the country hard in recent years could have been exacerbated by the practice of opening blast furnaces - a common work procedure for metallurgists.

Immediately, the Metallurgy Association of Korea issued a statement saying that there was no global precedent for the introduction of rules governing the practice of opening blast furnaces, and that the administrative order could seriously harm the metallurgical business. “If the steel mills are closed for 10 days, then it takes more than six months to restore the mills. This will result in losses of 800 billion won ($ 674 million) per plant. ”

Posco affiliate of the Korean Trade Union Confederation said that "the closure of the operation will destroy the foundations of Korean industry."

Despite industry resistance, national environmental regulations are expected to become more stringent as a result of growing calls to tackle air pollution and climate change at home and abroad.

Earlier this month, President Moon Jae-in said the country intends to reduce emissions of fine dust by more than 30 percent by 2022 from 2016 levels. He said the government is making efforts to improve plants and other facilities that emit high concentrations of fine dust.

“I agree with the importance of environmental standards. But if the government promotes plans without a sufficient grace period, companies may inevitably have to break laws and lose competitiveness, ”said a spokesman for a major steel company in Korea, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Metals companies are already stepping up their efforts to invest in environmental protection in line with government policies to improve sustainability. By 2021, the steel mill will