Posco halts part of production due to ongoing trucker strike

South Korea's largest steelmaker Posco halted work on some production lines at its plant in Pohang in North Gyeongsang province on Monday due to an ongoing strike by unionized truck drivers.

As of 7:00 am local time, the company suspended production at all four wire rod plants and one of its two cold-rolled steel plants in Pohang. These lines mainly produce metal products for household appliances and high-quality building materials.

As a result, the daily production of the plant will decrease by about 7.5 thousand tons of wire rod and 4.5 thousand tons of cold-rolled steel, respectively.

"If the situation drags on, blast furnace operations could be suspended," a Posco spokesman said. The operation of his steel mills in Gwangyang remains normal for now.

A truckers' strike demanding higher wages led to a disruption in freight traffic, followed by a glut of finished steel that could not be shipped. Some steel mills have started using roads in their plants to accommodate steel products.

Since there was no wage increase, the negotiations did not bring much progress. The strike could affect the operation of more steel mills in the country.

“If the strike drags on, we may have to adjust our production,” a Hyundai Steel spokesman said, according to Korea Times reports.

Over the past few days, protests have hit South Korean steelmakers hard as supplies of their raw materials and products have been affected.