Hyundai Steel Reports 27.3 Trillion KRW in Sales and 1.6 Trillion KRW Operating Profit Last Year

Data provided by Hyundai Steel

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghoon Jeong] Hyundai Steel announced on the 31st through a public disclosure that it recorded consolidated sales of KRW 27.3406 trillion, operating profit of KRW 1.6166 trillion, and net profit of KRW 1.0384 trillion for 2022.

Hyundai Steel stated that its consolidated sales for last year increased by 19.7% compared to the previous year, while operating profit and net profit decreased by 33.9% and 31.0%, respectively.

Despite market deterioration and strike impacts in the second half of last year, Hyundai Steel explained that it achieved stable annual business performance. Hyundai Steel said, "We plan to gradually improve profitability through sales recovery due to production normalization and profitability-focused management."

This year, domestic and international demand recovery is expected due to the resumption of economic activities in China, a rebound in global steel demand led by the US and emerging countries, increased automobile production due to supply chain disruption easing, and an increase in order backlog from solid global ship orders.

In response to this business environment, Hyundai Steel plans to strengthen competitiveness in key product markets. In the automotive steel sheet market, it will respond to domestic demand recovery while increasing the proportion of sales focused on actual demand in overseas markets and expanding sales of strategic steel grades such as hot stamping steel. Through this, Hyundai Steel aims to sell 1.1 million tons of global automotive steel sheets this year, a 34% increase compared to the previous year.

Additionally, Hyundai Steel is focusing on securing stable sales volume through energy project orders, such as heavy plates for the Taiwan offshore wind power project and steel materials for LNG production offshore plants in Indonesia and Qatar.

Efforts are also being made to capture the premium construction steel market based on technological capabilities. Hyundai Steel is actively expanding its core customer base through H CORE premium construction steel and is expanding business capabilities based on excellent technology, including holding the most world-class products in the industry for 18 consecutive years (12 items).

Hyundai Steel also aims to expand product demand by targeting new growth markets. It plans to create new demand by strengthening technical sales in logistics, data center markets, and modular markets through technology exchange on construction methods using H-beams and providing various steel solutions.

In the research and development sector, Hyundai Steel is accelerating the development of core technologies to respond to steel industry megatrends, including ▲mass production technology development for low-carbon products responding to carbon neutrality ▲core component material technology development for mobility electrification ▲advancement of digital work environments and establishment of an independent smart factory. The company aims to develop blast furnace carbon reduction process technology using low-carbon new raw materials, expand premium proprietary steel grades related to electrification, and achieve smart factory lighthouse plant selection through AI-based automation implementation.

Furthermore, Hyundai Steel is making investments to respond swiftly to the continuously expanding electric vehicle demand centered in Europe and the US.

By expanding the Czech hot stamping plant, Hyundai Steel plans to strengthen hot stamping orders and sales for Europe and build a dedicated SSC1) for electric vehicle plants in the US to secure a local sales base for electric vehicle materials.

A Hyundai Steel official stated, "Although the global economic recovery is slow and management uncertainties persist, we plan to gradually improve business performance by strengthening profitability-focused management activities and concentrating on securing financial stability."