Posco, Originally Called Pohang Iron

POSCO, originally called Pohang Iron and Steel Company Ltd., is one of the world's foremost steel producers producing an annual approximate load of 26 million tons of cold- and hot-rolled steel products, including steel coil, plate, wire rod, electrical sheets, and stainless steel. Approximately, 72% of that is absorbed in Korea whilst the rest is exported to 60 other countries. Originally struggling during the Asian economic challenges of the 1990s, POSCVO managed to pull through it all the stronger operating numerous international subsidiaries and mergers (including the Nippon Steel Corporation) .

POSCO is also becoming an increasing presence in China.

History of POSCO

Steel has always been an essential industry for the Koreans and they experimented with various firms before POSCO came on the scene.

POSCO was created in 1968 with the help of Korean President Chung Hee Park under the original name Pohang Iron and Steel. Casually called POSCO, the corruption remained and so in 2002, the company formally adopted that name.

The POSCO steel works took between 1970 to 1981 to build. In the beginning, they had only a blast furnace and two steel converters. In their last phase, POSCO's was producing an 8.5 million tons load and Korean workers had replaced foreign workers in all phases and aspects of the activity.

In the beginning too, machinery came privately from Japan and Austria but through the 1980s, Korea was soon able to produce its own, outsourcing its raw material, and constructing a second integrated steel plant in Kwangyang which is in South Korea's Chollanamdo region. By 1973, the company had already begun producing crude steel, and by 1983, POSCO's annual production peaked over 9 million tonnes (About.com. Metals). The 19780s, too, was the time when POSCO expanded itself as well as collapsing and streamlining all parts of their industry that included all aspects from iron smelting to steel making as well as manufactured steel production plants (ibid.) the company also established the Pohang University of Science and Technology, and involved itself in other research and development ventures. .

The early 1990s was the time when POSCO first took off. Building itself on proceeds from their Kwangyang outlet, the company sought new markets and in 1986, established a mergence with the American company USX Corp. constructing a steel mill in the U.S.A. Recession in America and Europe caused them to turn to China.

In 1991, POSCO had exported only about 200,000 tons of steel to China, but by the following year it increased that amount to an additional million tonnes, and in 1992, it built a tin-plate plant in Shanghai. That same year, it moved to Vietnam building a pipe mill and an electric arc furnace near Hanoi. Refusing privatization, the company opened itself up to foreign ownership in 1989 and began selling overseas bonds the same year becoming the first South Korean company to be included on the New York Stock Exchange. Posco later branched out into telecommunications, acquiring a part in Atel Inc.

In the late 1990s, POSCO experienced the country's financial crisis and was compelled to cut down prices, and stock, and to reduce their steel production as prices dropped. The crisis compelled the company to accept the government's offer of privatization and so, in 2001, POSCO became a privatized company.

Enduring several scandals and plunges, POSCO also managed to lift itself up and continue through its challenges through the late 1990s and into the millennium. Its success came about by eliminating ventures in other fields and investing only in projects that were in line with its objectives as well as by merging subsidiaries. In 1999, therefore, it merged Pohang Steel Industries and Pohang Coated Steel into Pohang Steel Co. As well as starting three machinery units in the POSCO Machinery Company. A few years earlier too (in 1994), its first two subsidiaries were created - POSTEEL and POSTGRADE.

In order to cut prices and make their organization more lean and effective, they also formed partnerships with former competitors such as with Nippon Steel and China's Baoshan Iron & Steel Works in 2001.

Structure of POSCO.

POSCO is divided into two main groups,

1.POSTEEL -- that manages domestic sales and services

2. POSTGRADE - that deals with international trading of products.

Aside from these two units, POSCO has a further more than 24 subsidiaries (About.com).

Ever since the millennium the firm has and continues to expand in overseas ventures and has sunk its investment in foreign automotive and appliance production.

In 2010, POSCO had produced 35.4 million tonnes of crude steel becoming the world's third largest steel maker. Its steel mills are headquartered in South Korea, in Pohang and Gwangyang, and it also has merged with U.S. Steel, USS-POSCO, which is located in Pittsburg, California. Its key rivals include Tata Steel, Nippon Steel, the JFE group, and Bhushan steel.

Products

POSCO manufactures six major types of steel products (the percentages of its sales in brackets are those that were listed in 2010).

1 Cold-Rolled Steel/Galvanized Steel (40% of sales): used in automotive plates, home appliances, furniture, etc.