[Featured Stock] POSCO M-Tech, POSCO's 'World's First Mass Production' High Manganese Steel Approved by ExxonMobil

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] POSCO M-TECH is showing strong performance. The news that POSCO's ultra-low temperature high manganese steel, the world's first to be mass-produced, has completed material stability and suitability evaluation by global energy company ExxonMobil and has been approved as steel for liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage and transportation appears to have influenced the stock price.

As of 9:37 AM on the 26th, POSCO M-TECH is trading at 7,780 KRW, up 12.75% from the previous day.

POSCO held a technology approval certificate handover ceremony for ultra-low temperature high manganese steel with ExxonMobil at the 2020 World Gas Conference (WGC2022) event held in Daegu the day before. Ultra-low temperature high manganese steel is a special steel with excellent impact toughness and strength in extreme environments below -162 degrees Celsius, the temperature required to maintain LNG in liquid form. It is a new material developed by POSCO in 2013, the world's first. Unlike existing materials that increased the content of expensive components such as nickel, chromium, and aluminum, it uses manganese, which is produced in large quantities, as the main component, resulting in excellent price competitiveness.

In July 2020, POSCO began the technology approval process with ExxonMobil to apply high manganese steel to environmentally friendly LNG terminals that ExxonMobil plans to build worldwide. To participate in projects invested by ExxonMobil, POSCO had to first obtain technology approval from the company.

Along with the certificate handover, POSCO and ExxonMobil agreed to collaborate on developing new applications for high manganese steel and future technologies such as hydrogen business and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS).

POSCO successfully supplied the world's first developed high manganese steel for slurry pipes to ExxonMobil's Cold Oil Sands project and won the 'Outstanding Contract of the Year' award in the chemical, energy, environment, and materials category at the 2017 North American Intellectual Property Association Annual Meeting. From the early development stage in 2012, POSCO and ExxonMobil jointly conducted research on pipe welding, pipe forming, and field testing of slurry pipes. Slurry pipes are steel pipes specialized for transporting oil sands containing crude oil. Applying high manganese steel significantly improves wear resistance compared to existing materials, dramatically extending equipment life and pipe replacement cycles.

POSCO M-TECH signed a contract last year to operate a ferro-manganese plant on consignment with POSCO. Through research and development, it has developed technologies such as ▲ cost reduction in ferro-manganese (FeMn) production by securing low-cost manganese sintered ore manufacturing and usage technology ▲ high-grade manganese dust upgrading technology through physical sorting.

In the first quarter of this year, it recorded sales of 92.2 billion KRW and operating profit of 5.5 billion KRW, increasing by 30.8% and 103.1%, respectively, compared to the same period last year.