POSCO moved to 6th place in global steel production

POSCO dropped to sixth place in global crude steel production in 2020, down one notch from 2019. Chinese steelmakers climbed the rankings, sharply increasing crude steel production as they quickly overcame the COVID-19 crisis.

POSCO steel production was 40.58 million tonnes in 2020, down 5.9 percent from 2019, according to Steel in Figures 2021 data released by the World Steel Association (WSA) on June 7.

Hyundai Steel's steel production fell 8.1% to 19.81 million tonnes, falling from 15th in 2019 to 16th in 2020.

POSCO and Hyundai Steel responded with flexible operations as demand plummeted following the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, POSCO's production fell naturally as it coincided with the timing of reconfiguring the interior of Kiln # 3 at the Gwangyang Smelter from 4600 square meters to 5500 square meters. Hyundai Steel has also abandoned the production of hot-rolled thin sheets in electric furnaces.

On the other hand, Chinese companies made significant progress, which announced the end of the COVID-19 situation earlier than other countries. The top ten included seven Chinese companies, including China Baowu Group ranked first.

China's HBIS Group (43.8 million tonnes) and Shagang Group (41.59 million tonnes) ranked third and fourth, followed by Ansteel Group (38.19 million tonnes), Jianlong Group (36.47 million tonnes) , Shougang Group (34 million tonnes) and Shandong Steel Group. (3111 million tons).

World crude steel production reached 1,878 million tonnes in 2020, up 0.5 percent from 2019. China accounted for 56.7 percent of total production, up 7.0 percent from 1,064.8 million tonnes in the same period, followed by India (1,000.3 million tonnes), Japan (83.2 million tonnes ), The USA (72.7 million tons) and Russia (71.6 million tons). Korea retained 6th place with a total production of 67.1 million tonnes.