Korean firm to invest $200m in Tuwairqi Steel

Posco and Al Tuwairqi to sign deal by next month.

ISLAMABAD:

“South Korea’s Posco, the world’s fourth-largest steelmaker, will invest $200 million to expand the production capacity of Tuwairqi steel plant in Port Qasim, Karachi,” said the Board of Investment (BOI) Chairman Saleem H Mandviwalla on Friday after a meeting with a delegation of Posco Ltd South Korea.

In this regard, Mandviwalla said that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of a joint venture between Posco and Tuwairqi will be signed by next month.

The joint venture to produce steel products for automobiles and construction goods is set to be completed in 2015 with an annual production capacity of 2 million tons. Posco in Pakistan will be a great success, not only in monetary terms, but also in its position as a technology leader in the steel sector, from which Pakistan can benefit to a larger extent.

The gap between demand and supply is met through imports and the demand for steel products is around 8 million tons against the supply of around 2 million tons, he said.

Baek affirmed that the construction unit of Posco will build the plant with the side aim of winning other such plant deals in Pakistan. Informing about Posco, he said that current steel production of Posco is around 37 million tons per annum whereas in 2010, its revenues stood at $45 billion.

The Posco has its presence in a number of countries such as China, India, Myanmar, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, USA, Australia, Canada and Vietnam. Al Tuwairqi Holding (the parent company of Tuwairqi Steel Mills Limited)  is establishing a state of  the art steel complex with an operational capacity of 1.28 million tons per annum of Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) plant in the first phase at Port Qasim.



Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2011.