POSCO, South Korea’s largest steelmaker, has vowed to increase the sales of its premium products to 40 percent by next year from the current 30 percent, the company said Thursday.

POSCO has aggressively promoted “World Premium” steel ― self-developed products with cutting-edge technologies having high consumer preferences.

Last year, the company announced 220 world premium products as part of its marketing efforts to increase profits and competitive edge in the market. 

“We’ve been focusing on creating marketing solutions to increase sales of such products in seven core industries, including automobiles, shipbuilding, energy, electronics and stainless steel,” a spokesman from POSCO said.

One of the plans is to expand the number of technical service centers in the country abroad, which offer customers customized products from research to production stage.

According to the firm, sales of automotive steel sheets surpassed 8 million tons last year. Company officials said this is the result of quickly setting up a supply system of premium products at the request of its clients.

“World premium products have been creating high value seven for our client companies. This will not only help us gain competitive edge in the market but also yield more profit,” the spokesman said.

By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)