Way to Tide Over
Amid tough conditions that the local steel industry suffers extremely sluggish demand and trade conflicts, POSCO Chairman Kwon Oh-joon stressed, “We need make preemptive inroads into new steel markets such as super high-rise “mega city” and infrastructure of renewable electricity generation.
Under the circumstance that tariff bombs are dropping on Korean steel products day after day, his remark is interpreted as a strategy that the company will overcome the crisis by focusing on sectors whose demand for steel is expected to grow sharply.
At the 28th POSCO Family Technical Conference held at POSTECH and Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology (RIST), Chairman Kwon gave a grim outlook, saying, “It will be difficult for the steel industry to enjoy the boom as before due to global oversupply and stagnant demand of industries. The proliferation of protectionism, including strengthened import regulations in many countries, leads to the rapid deterioration of conditions for export.”
His plan to target the two markets is based on the analysis that they will serve as new sources generating demand for steel.
A mega city refers to a super-sized city with a population of more than 10 million. Hyundai Motor’s Project IONIQ Lab recently forecast that 70 percent of the world’s population will concentrate in cities by 2030. “When high-rise buildings are newly constructed in mega cities, naturally the demand for steel products is going to grow. From this point of view, he meant it is needed to preemptively respond to the construction of high-rise mega cities,” said an official at POSCO.