Posco was named the world's most competitive steel producer for the 12th consecutive year

POSCO, an internationally recognized information provider, has been named the world's most competitive steelmaker by Yi Whan-woo, the Korean conglomerate announced on Tuesday.

World Steel Dynamics (WSD) ranked POSCO first in terms of global competition at this year's "Steel Success Strategies" conference, held Monday through Tuesday in Miami, Florida. WSD hosts the annual meeting of steel industry members. Established in 1999, USA-based WSD evaluates 35 large steel mills around the world according to 23 criteria and ranks them according to their competitiveness. The assessment is based on data submitted by each steelmaker and data and materials published by other sources.

The evaluation is used as an important indicator to predict the future business performance and growth potential of the companies surveyed.
POSCO scored an average of 8.54 out of 10 after receiving excellent marks for financial health and progress in nurturing the next growth engines. The two criteria were highlighted by POSCO CEO Choi Jeong-woo after he took office in 2018. Specifically, POSCO achieved the highest scores in the other seven categories over the course of two years: high value-added products, cost of processing, technological innovation, human resources, new growth business development, investments in the environment, and national risk level.

“WSD highly values ​​POSCO's recovery in earnings last year, as well as its evolution to become an environmentally friendly company, and its leadership in the global steel industry to promote carbon neutrality,” the company said.

WSD noted that the steelmaker posted a record high operating profit of 3.12 trillion ($2.6 billion) in the third quarter, breaking the previous record of 2.2 trillion in the second quarter. POSCO's earnings in the July-September period increased by 365.7 percent compared to the same period in 2020, when the economy was hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Sales in the third quarter also rose 14.26 percent year on year to 20.6 trillion won. The steelmaker is stepping up its efforts to develop environmentally friendly production methods and products.

Such efforts include hosting, in October, the world's first Hydrogen Iron and Steel Production Forum (HyIS), which aims to facilitate discussions on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in steelmaking.