Korea’s top steelmaker POSCO will be expanding its global business through its world premium automotive steel sheet products, the company said Tuesday.

With currently 26 client companies in 12 countries, POSCO plans to further expand its global business by focusing on automotive steel products as part of a decision to maximize profits, as premium automotive steel sheets have 10 percent higher profitability than regular products. 

POSCO presently runs steel car parts production factories in China, India, and Mexico. It plans to complete another production factory this year in Thailand. POSCCO is also currently constructing a domestic advanced high-strength steel production factory, which is set to be completed in 2017.

Among the conglomerate’s world premium automotive steel are POSCO’s twinning-induced plasticity steel and hot press forming steel, known to be 30 percent lighter than regular steel while maintaining high tensile strength.

TWIP is one of POSCO’s successfully mass-produced structural steel, with five times higher machinability than regular steel. It is also known for its strength as it can withstand 100 kilograms per square millimeter.

Meanwhile, HPF, used for center pillars in vehicles, also has high tensile strength and is able to withstand 150 kilograms per square millimeter.

POSCO is the first company to produce high tension steel with the world’s highest strength of 2GPa.

By Lee Seo-young (seoyounglee@heraldcorp.com)