Dongkuk Steel invests 25 billion KRW in color steel plates... Expands production line

[Asia Economy Reporter So-yeon Park] Dongkuk Steel is making new investments to lead the color steel sheet market.

Dongkuk Steel announced on the 9th that it will invest approximately 25 billion KRW by the second half of next year to expand its color steel sheet production line with an annual capacity of 70,000 tons at its Busan plant.

Accordingly, the color steel sheet production capacity at Dongkuk Steel's Busan plant will increase from the existing 8 lines producing 750,000 tons to 9 production lines producing 850,000 tons.

This is the world's largest scale compared to competitors who produce between 100,000 and 400,000 tons with 1 to 4 lines.

The new color steel sheet line being added by Dongkuk Steel will be the world's first wide-width line (1600 mm) combining laminate steel sheet and ultraviolet (UV) coating processes.

At this facility, specialized high value-added color steel sheets such as fluorine laminate steel sheets and new products combining digital printing steel sheets with UV coating will be produced to meet the diversified demands of home appliance companies and increase market share in the premium building materials sector.

Since 2011, Dongkuk Steel has been intensively investing in the color steel sheet business, expanding production capacity and actively conducting brand marketing.

As a result, the color steel sheet business, which maintained a production scale of 400,000 tons mainly focused on building materials, has grown to a scale of 600,000 to 700,000 tons encompassing home appliances and premium building materials since 2012.

The proportion of color steel sheets in Dongkuk Steel's sales (separate basis) expanded from 11.5% in 2012 to 17.6% last year, and with this investment, it is expected to increase to around 20% in the future.

A company official stated, "We plan to proactively respond to the premiumization trend in the global home appliance and building materials markets and continue investing centered on high-profit color steel sheets to strengthen our super-gap strategy."