With the theme of “Great Thanks to You! True Pride in You!” the event included 120 guests from over 100 corporate customers. Major industries were represented, including those related to steel building materials, hot-rolled steel plates, energy, shipbuilding, automobile manufacturing, electric and electronics products, wire rods, and stainless steel production.

POSCO held its 2016 Customer Appreciation Night at the POSCO Center on December 16. The event was attended by approximately 120 executives from over 100 corporate customers.

“We beat expectations in 2016 in terms of performance, thanks to the constant support and trust from our customers, despite difficult domestic and overseas economic conditions,” said POSCO CEO Ohjoon Kwon in the main event. “Customers like you are the engines that will lead the future growth of the Korean economy and the global steel industry. In order to lay the foundation for sustainable growth with our customers in 2017, POSCO will do everything it can to develop innovative solutions that provide customers with advanced solution marketing.”

POSCO CEO Ohjoon Kwon welcomes executives from POSCO’s corporate customers and promises to continue focusing on providing advanced solution marketing.

In addition, attendees enjoyed the screening of a special video titled, “Dearest customers, we love you! We thank you!” The video humorously filmed customer responses as they received phone calls from POSCO saying, “I love you!”

Dinner began with toasts from POSCO CEO Ohjoon Kwon and Sang-woon Lee, Vice Chairman of Hyosung, and was followed by a performance from world-famous vocalist Paul Potts. In 2007, Potts catapulted to fame after winning the British audition program “Britain’s Got Talent”. Potts’ beautiful renditions of ‘Brindisi,’ ‘Parla Piu Piano’ (the theme of the film ‘The Godfather’), and ‘Missing Geumgang Mountain’ were warmly received by those in attendance, and Potts continued with an impressive duet with Korean musical singer Bada.

World-renowned vocalist Paul Potts gave a searing performance of classics such as Brindisi and Missing Geumgang Mountain.

As POSCO turns its attention to 2017, it plans to further solidify its leadership in the domestic and overseas steel markets by expanding sales of customer-oriented world-premium products. In addition, while further cementing its strategic partnerships with core customers, POSCO will be strengthening its differentiated competitive advantage through advanced solution marketing that helps unlock customer value.

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Steel Korea 2016 provides the steel industry and relevant academic and research institutes with the setting to evaluate the current situation of the Korean steel industry. Steel in Korea is having to face a rapidly changing global environment, and must explore ways to enable the continuous growth of the industry by making new breakthroughs.

It was the second annual meeting of the event, attended by 300 people, including Chairman Ohjoon Kwon, Vice-Chairman of Hyundai Steel Yoocheol Woo, Chairman of the Korean Institute of Metals and Materials Jongsoo Lee, and Chairman of the Korea Steel Scrap Industry Association Youngdong Park.

In his opening speech, Chairman Ohjoon Kwon remarked, “Recently, our steel industry has been undergoing some challenging times amid the trade protectionism occurring around the world, and also due to domestic demand beginning to wane. In order to overcome the current crisis and move forward, the industry, academia, research institutes, and the government should come together to improve responsiveness and drive change.”

Kwon said that the industry should make bold investments into new technologies and products in order to supply better quality products at lower prices, and companies should secure a solid management foundation through strong corporate restructuring that would remain unaffected in any occasion.

On August 24, the Korea Iron & Steel Association held Steel Korea 2016 at the POSCO Center to seek a breakthrough for the steel industry. Chairman Ohjoon Kwon emphasized that, in order to overcome the crisis in the steel industry, the industry, academia, research institutes and the government should come together to improve responsiveness.

He also added, “The private and public sectors should work together to survive in the global steel trade war. We have to improve our responsiveness to changes in trade policies by closely monitoring the trade regulations of each country and strengthening the communication channels with local steel industry and trade authorities.”

The participants agreed that strong domestic demand is instrumental to the continuous growth of the steel industry, and pledged to build up a strong partnership with relevant industries, such as automotive and construction, as well as to block imports and distribution of unfairly traded products.

The event also included a wide range of presentations concerning the future of steel and construction, including the flow of demand for structural steel in each industry; current status of product development; current status and future prospects of steel using technologies in different industries, such as automotive, shipbuilding, home appliances and stainless steel; seismic design in steel structures; trends of Iran’s construction market; and future steel housing.

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Discussions with China Iron and Steel Association(CISA) and The Chinese Society For Metals
On September 22nd, CEO Kwon visited the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) and The Chinese Society for Metals to discuss collaborative development plans between Korea and China`s steel industries and seek ways to develop the future of the Northeast Asia steel industry. At the China Iron and Steel Association, CEO Kwon discussed cooperation plans and exchanged opinions on the recent trends in China`s steel industry. CEO Kwon said at the meeting that he would continue to push ahead with cooperation based on an ‘open innovation’ that promotes sharing and synthesizing. CEO Kwon then met with personnel at The Chinese Society for Metals, where he exchanged opinions on the current challenges facing the China`s steel industry and the R&D trends in steel manufacturing technology. Technology for pollutant emission reduction, such as carbon emission reduction, was discussed in-depth as potential directions for development.

Meeting with POSCO Local Subsidiaries
CEO Kwon hosted a meeting with the presidents of POSCO relate companies, listened to the status of current projects being carried out at local subsidiaries and discussed plans to expand in the Chinese market. CEO Kwon emphasized at the meeting that, ”We must recognize that China will forever be a co-existing competitor and collaborator and carefully consider future business development.” He also reminded the audience that, “Dispatched POSCO employees must always set an example so that locally hired employees can hold the pride and hope that comes with being a POSCO employee.“

Visit to POSCO China Office and The Beijing POSCO Center Construction Site
Afterwards, CEO Kwon visited the POSCO China office to review mid-term management plans. CEO Kwon encouraged employees by saying, “Drive with challenge and purpose to achieve the goal of expanding product sales linking POSCO`s world premium products and solution marketing. POSCO China is the base-level subsidiary of China and must therefore provide high level support in finance, HR, and education for subsidiaries investing in China so that the production subsidiaries and processing centers can focus on their core businesses”.

Before heading back to Seoul, CEO Kwon also visited the Beijing POSCO Center construction site, which is scheduled to be completed this coming December. After examining construction progress, he asked that the construction be safely completed before the scheduled completion date. The POSCO Center, which consists of 2 buildings, with 25 floors and 33 floors, is located in the Wangjing Subdistrict where many Korean people reside and is expected to provide a better business environment for POSCO and group companies in China.

Through CEO Kwon’s visit to China, POSCO expects to contribute to achieving the ‘POSCO the Great’ vision by strengthening its core competitiveness. Also, as more exchanges and communications proceed, we are certain that the Korea-China collaborative development in the steel industry will further enhance and provide positive influences on other industries as well!