South Korean steel maker Hyundai Steel announced on Jan 29, that it will invest KRW120bn ($101mn) by 2021 in its cold rolling facility to produce higher competitive automobile materials. The company is likely mass produce automobile parts at a new hot stamping factory at Ostrava city, Czech Republic starting January 2021.
The company’s consolidated sales fell by 1.3pc from the prior year to KRW20.55 trillion and operating profit fell 67.7pc to KRW331.3bn, according to the Hyundai’s financial results for 2019. The fall in operating profits were driven by weaker demand in the in the automotive steel and shipbuilding sectors and iron ore prices hitting a record high of $120/mt levels in 2019.
Weaker finished steel demand for rebar and long sections on a slowdown in construction activities during second half of 2019 lowered sale prices.
The steelmaker aims to raise its automotive steel sales to 1mn mt in 2020 as company to develop around 247 types of steel grades by 2020.
In 2020, the company anticipates weaker automotive sales and a bearish construction demand given a economic slowdown.
Hyundai Steel’s total crude steel production capacity is over 24mn mt, which includes 12mn mt from blast furnaces and 12mn mt from electric arc furnaces. It has an annual steel plate production capacity of 3.5mn mt at its Dangjin integrated steelworks.