l Announced by the global steel information service WSD on November 8 … Evaluated 23 categories for 35 steelworks worldwide
l Obtained a perfect 10 in eight categories, including technical innovation, financial soundness, higher-value products, and manpower capability
l CEO Jeong-woo Choi’s leadership was highly evaluated, including best performance record, changing to an eco-friendly material company, and leading carbon neutrality in the global steel industry
POSCO has been ranked number one as the world’s most competitive steel company for 12 straight years.
The global steel strategic information service World Steel Dynamics (WSD) announced the competitiveness evaluation results of global steel companies and named POSCO the best global steelmaker at the 36th Global Steel Success Strategies Meeting held in Miami for two days from November 8 (Mon) to 9 (Tue) local time in the USA.
POSCO scored a perfect 10 in seven categories: higher-value products, processing cost, technical innovation, manpower capability, new growth business, investment environment, and national risk, for the second consecutive year, and also scored a perfect 10 in the category of financial soundness by preemptively securing starting materials and reducing the debt ratio for securing new growth engines, which CEO Choi has emphasized since his inauguration. POSCO placed first overall with a score of 8.54 points (out of 10).
WSD, founded in 1999, evaluates 23 categories for major 35 steelworks around the world and announces a competitiveness ranking based on the total aggregate scores across categories every year. This ranking is a reference indicator to gauge business performance and the development potential of major global steelworks.
This year, designating the world’s most competitive steelmaker, WSD highly evaluated POSCO’s performance recovery, transformation into an eco-friendly material company, and leadership in carbon neutrality in the global steel industry.
Although POSCO experienced an unprecedented business crisis due to a global steel demand industry slump caused by COVID-19 last year, it broke the highest performance record since its foundation, with consolidated sales of KRW 20.6 trillion and operating profit of KRW 3 trillion in the third quarter of this year.
POSCO is converting its business structure to an eco-friendly material maker, enhancing sales of eco-friendly steel products and expanding secondary battery materials and hydrogen business.
POSCO increased sales of higher-value World Top Premium (WTP) products from 8.74 million tons last year to 9.3 million tons this year and built a production system for one million tons of GIGA STEEL. In addition, POSCO enhanced its sales platform by continuously launching eco-friendly products such as INNOVILT, e Autopos, and Greenable.
Furthermore, CEO Choi was positively evaluated for leading cooperation measures for carbon neutrality in the global steel industry, for example, successfully hosting the Hydrogen Iron & Steel Making Forum (HyIS Forum) in October to discuss hydrogen reduction steelmaking (HyREX) for the first time in the steel industry.
Two thousand twenty-eight people from 348 companies and institutions in 48 countries participated in the HyIS Forum online and offline. POSCO’s unique eco-friendly hydrogen reduction steelmaking (HyREX) technology was recognized for its technology value and competitiveness for the first time in the global steel industry and received a great response for its international solidarity and cooperation in the global steel industry.
CEO Choi was appointed Executive Board of Director of the World Steel Association (Worldsteel) in October, and POSCO received awards in two categories, “Innovation of the year” and “Excellence in communications programmes” in the 12th Steelie Awards.