Hyundai Kia Group Moves Forward into Steel Production

A Major Strive...I've been watching this unfold for years...

Hyundai INI Steel, an affiliate of the Hyundai Kia Motor Group, was given the go-ahead to build an integrated steel mill in the western Korean port city of Dangjin.

The construction of an integrated steel mill that the late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung had envisioned for decades is finally kicking off. His son, and current Hyundai-Kia Chairman Chung Mong-koo has also sought the project for more than decade. In the past, government control thwarted the Group's efforts from entering the market.

The steel company plans to invest a total of $5 billion in the project. The mill's first blast furnace is planned to be producing 3.5 million tons of slabs annually by 2010. The second blast furnace, with the same capacity, is scheduled to be completed a year later after breaking ground in 2008.

Why?
The projected integrated steel mill will sharply increase the supply of steel, helping the nation's car and shipbuilding industries hone their international competitiveness, the company notes. [ it will also control the costs of steel needed in car production--a big concern for the car group's profitability.]

Fully integrated...

Once the integrated steel mill goes into operation, the Hyundai Kia Motor Group will be the only company in the world to have secured all the sources of manufactured materials necessary to create an automobile.

More details ....
SEOUL (Yonhap) _ A South Korean provincial government on Monday gave Hyundai INI Steel the green light to establish a steel complex in a western port city, clearing the way for the nation's No. 2 steelmaker to build an integrated steel mill.
The administration of South Chungchong Province said it approved Hyundai INI Steel's request to designate a vast area in the port city of Tangjin, about 123 kilometers south of Seoul, is an industrial complex.

The envisioned industrial complex is close to the factory of the now defunct Hanbo Iron & Steel Co., which Hyundai INI Steel acquired in October 2004.

The approval is expected to galvanize Hyundai INI Steel's plan to build the nation's second integrated steel mill after top steelmaker POSCO.

For that purpose, Hyundai INI Steel said, it will invest about 5 trillion won ($5.1 billion) to build two blast furnaces with a combined annual capacity of 7 million tons of slabs.

Work on one furnace will begin this year for completion in 2010, while the other one will be finished in 2011 after construction starts in 2008, it said.

When completed, the integrated mill is expected to raise the annual steel production of Hyundai INI Steel, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, to 17 million tons from the present 2.9 million tons.

Hyundai Motor Group also owns steelmaking units Hyundai Hysco and BNG Steel, which have an annual capacity of 4.5 million tons and 300,000 tons, respectively.

In the run-up to the construction of the integrated mill, Hyundai INI Steel said it recently signed a preliminary deal with Australian mining giant BHP Billiton on the procurement of raw materials.

The contract calls for the Australian company to supply about 4 million to 5 million tons of iron ore and 2.5 million to 3 million tons of soft coal to Hyundai INI Steel for 10 years from 2010.

Hyundai INI Steel said the construction of the integrated mill will create 78,000 new jobs, adding that it will enable domestic companies to secure steel more easily.