Posco International to accelerate global push in 2024

Posco Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul (Yonhap)

Posco International, the trading arm of Posco Group, announced Sunday that bolstering its global presence in its main business areas, from renewable energy to electric vehicle parts, will be the key to the company’s business strategy for this year.

The company will aggressively expand global production facilities and establish a value chain through partnerships with foreign firms to spur growth in 2024, it said.

To grow its e-mobility business, Posco International will start construction of its second drive core plant in Mexico this year. When the second factory is completed, the two facilities, including the first plant completed in October last year, will have a combined annual capacity of 2.5 million drive motor cores, according to the company.

While increasing its access to the North American market for electric vehicle components, the company plans to start the construction of another plant in Poland as early as the first half of this year. The goal is to have an annual capacity of 7 million drive motor cores by 2030 and to secure some 10 percent of the global market.

In terms of its food business, Posco International is reviewing options to establish more joint ventures in Australia and the US to expand its food value chain that handles grain products. In September last year, Posco International signed a preliminary agreement with Bartlett and Co. to establish a joint venture for grain supply and soybean processing.

In Indonesia, Posco International’s joint venture AGPA Refinery Complex will start building a palm oil refinery in the first quarter of this year on 300,000 square meters of land at the Balikpapan industrial complex in East Kalimantan. The plant will begin to produce 500,000 tons of refined oil annually by the second quarter of 2025. The product will be sold in Indonesia and exported to other countries in the region, including Korea.

In line with increasing demand for natural gas, Posco International is also expanding its natural gas business. Posco International and its partner Hancock have invested 300 million Australian dollars ($201 million) in Senex Energy to expand its gas-processing facilities in Australia.

Posco International is also in search of natural gas fields in Southeast Asia. If the PM524 Sector in Malaysia and the Bunga Sector in Indonesia are added to the company's gas-producing areas, the company will be able to significantly increase its gas production scale.

In terms of renewable energy, Posco International is working with Norway’s state-run oil and gas supplier Equinor to build an offshore wind farm in Ulsan. The two companies will install 50 units of 15-megawatt floating offshore wind turbines off the coast of Ulsan, which will combine to make a 750-megawatt floating offshore wind farm, the largest of its kind in the world.

The company is also expected to collaborate with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners to build floating offshore wind turbines in Pohang, it added.

Meanwhile, Posco International CEO Jeong Tak, in a resolution for the new year, stressed that the company needs to focus on expanding its overseas businesses, making its businesses more environmentally friendly and nurturing new strategic assets, to navigate business uncertainties.

By Shim Woo-hyun(ws@heraldcorp.com)