POSCO’s Pohang steel mill fully recovers from typhoon damage

POSCO Holdings Inc., the holding company of South Korea’s largest steelmaker, said on Thursday all its steelmaking facilities hit by Typhoon Hinnamnor in September have been fully recovered, set for normal operations from Friday.

Fifteen hot rolling mills at Pohang Steel Works in the southern port city of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, were already recovered in December.

The remaining two plants – the plating CGL factory and a stainless-steel cold rolling mill – returned to normal as of Thursday, it said.

POSCO said in December it was able to restore part of its steelmaking facilities earlier than expected thanks to India’s JSW Steel Ltd., which provided it with components manufactured for its own hot rolling mill.

Hot-rolled products are used in various industries such as the construction, automobile and oil sectors. POSCO produces hot-rolled steel at a plant in Pohang and another in Gwangyang that was not hit by the typhoon.

The superstorm forced the company to shut down all three of its blast furnaces in Pohang for the first time in 49 years while many parts of the steel mill, including power lines, were flooded.

POSCO earlier said it didn’t expect the typhoon-hit factories in Pohang to fully normalize until the end of March 2023.

Write to Kyung-Min Kang at Kkm1026@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.