Korean, Turkish venture invests $350 million in local steel business

Korean, Turkish venture invests $350 million in local steel business. The plant will be completed in 21 months. A joint venture by Turkey’s Kibar Holding and South Korea’s Pohang Iron & Steel, or POSCO, and Daewoo International is preparing to invest $350 million in producing sheet steel in the northwestern province of Kocaeli (Turkey), said the top executive of Turkish party Monday. “With this major investment in Turkish steel business, Turkey will produce nearly 40 percent of the currently imported sheet steel worth $10 billion, which means Turkey’s sheet still import will go down by $4 billion when the plant starts manufacturing by 2013,” said Mehmet Aydın, a project manager at Kibar Holding. The plant will be completed in 21 months, Aydın told Anatolia news agency in Seoul, noting that “there is no any other facility that could produce flat steel at this quality in our neighborhood.” The Turkish company started negotiations with Korea’s POSCO and Daewoo International for the investment last July and reached an agreement in January this year, said Aydın. “All raw materials will be imported from South Korea,” he added. “The steel products will have a wideness of 750 to 1,600 meters,” said Aydın. “The latest technology will be brought to Turkey,” said Aydın, adding that this would be a great advantage for Turkey as it tries to boost its unique place in steel business paved by strong economic growth and a boom in industrial production. “Manufacturing sheet steel requires knowhow, which will now be brought to the country by Korean POSCO and Daewoo,” said Aydın. According to Aydın, Turkey’s sheet steel demand is rising rapidly. The nation’s demand for sheet steel might hit 900,000 tons by the end of 2020, estimated Aydın. He said Turkey imported nearly 350,000 tons of sheet steel for $10 billion last year. “Now Turkey has become a center of automobile and white goods manufacturing,” Aydın said, noting that such sectors need sheet steel for the continuation of their capacity increases and production. “Nearly 60 percent of the production will be sold to the domestic market while the rest will be exported,” he said.