POSCO Selected as Best in Leadership Category by 'S&P Global Platts'

The Only Domestic Company to Win... Second Time Since 2018

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] POSCO was selected as the Best Company in the Steel Industry Leadership category at the Global Metals Awards by S&P Global Platts, announced on the 30th.

The awards ceremony, originally scheduled to be held in London with participation from over 100 representatives from global metal industry companies, raw material equipment suppliers, raw material trading firms, and major media outlets, was replaced by an online event due to the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Global Platts is the world's largest information analysis organization in the steel, raw materials, and energy sectors, and is a subsidiary of S&P Global, a global financial services company that owns credit rating agency S&P Ratings and Dow Jones Indices, which operates the S&P 500 index.

Since 2013, Platts has selected outstanding companies in 15 categories including steel industry leadership, aluminum industry leadership, raw material leadership, technological innovation, and social contribution through the ‘Global Metals Awards’ targeting companies related to the global metal industry including steel.

The Global Metals Awards selects final nominees in each category from companies recommended by other companies and institutions or through self-nomination, and announces the final winners through judging by an external panel composed of former CEOs of steel, raw material trading, and market analysis organizations.

POSCO was selected as a final nominee in three categories?steel industry leadership, social contribution, and technological innovation?in May, and was awarded the ‘Steel Industry Leadership’ category in recognition of its relatively strong business performance compared to competitors amid a difficult management environment marked by the spread of global protectionism and deterioration in steel market conditions.

This Global Metals Awards win is POSCO’s second, following the award in 2018, and POSCO is the only Korean company to have received this award.

Platts stated that POSCO demonstrated solid performance despite difficult conditions through sales of 10 million tons of world top premium products, implementation of the Cost Innovation (CI) 2020 cost reduction initiative, and establishment of a smart production system utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) and big data. It also highly evaluated POSCO’s efforts in systematizing win-win growth programs and exploring future growth engines such as secondary battery materials business.

Additionally, POSCO received favorable reviews in corporate management strategy for participating in solving social issues through corporate citizenship management philosophy practices such as the 1% Sharing Foundation, talent volunteer groups, and environmental protection, as well as for being selected as the first lighthouse factory leading the future of manufacturing in Korea by the World Economic Forum (WEF) through active adoption of AI technology.

Meanwhile, POSCO has been ranked first for 10 consecutive years as the ‘Most Competitive Steelmaker in the World’ by the global steel industry analysis firm World Steel Dynamics (WSD), and has been participating in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) since 2003, being selected as an excellent company.