Hyundai Steel Reports First Quarterly Loss Since 2001... "Expanding Automotive Steel Sheet Production to 1 Million Tons This Year" (Comprehensive)

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Hyundai Steel recorded an operating loss on a quarterly basis for the first time since being incorporated into Hyundai Motor Group in 2001.

Hyundai Steel announced on the 29th that it posted an operating loss of 147.9 billion KRW in the fourth quarter of last year. During the same period, sales decreased by 9.2% to 4.8218 trillion KRW, and the net loss was 73.7 billion KRW.

The biggest cause of the poor performance was the inability to raise prices of major products. Although iron ore prices surged to 120 USD per ton last year, the prices of key products such as automotive steel sheets and shipbuilding heavy plates were not reflected due to the downturn in the upstream industries.

The long products segment, which had previously helped defend against performance declines, also saw decreases in sales and profit margins. A Hyundai Steel official explained, "The sheet and long products segments have fallen to the level of losses," adding, "The business outlook this year is not easy, so we are attempting price increases through minimum price levels while reducing costs."

Hyundai Steel plans to focus its capabilities on the automotive materials sector. Accordingly, it aims to expand global automotive steel sheet sales to 1 million tons this year. As part of this, it will expand material and component certifications for major global automakers and plans to complete the development of 247 types of steel grades by 2020.

Facility modernization and new investments will also be carried out. By 2021, Hyundai Steel will invest 120 billion KRW to rationalize cold rolling facilities to enhance competitiveness in automotive materials, and plans to establish a hot stamping plant in Ostrava, Czech Republic, targeting mass production in January 2021 to pursue the global market.

It will also promote the advancement of manufacturing technology and smartization of manufacturing processes for sustainable growth.

Based on energy-saving technologies such as improving by-product gas recycling rates and waste heat recovery, Hyundai Steel aims to realize a low-cost, high-efficiency steelworks. At the same time, it plans to develop a data platform covering all processes to enhance analysis capabilities and cultivate AI specialists, thereby building the foundation of a 'Smart Enterprise' through company-wide innovation.

A Hyundai Steel official said, "This year, risks overlap due to global product supply-demand imbalances and unstable international situations, continuing uncertainty in the business environment," adding, "We will focus on restructuring the business for profitability improvement and strengthening fundamental competitiveness, and by enhancing change-driving capabilities, we will become a company strong in crises."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.