South Korean shipyards face a potential disruption to steel supplies after Posco was forced to shut down production due to damage sustained from Typhoon Hinnamnor.
Posco, the country’s largest steelmaker, as well as Hyundai Steel suspended operations at their plants in Pohang after facilities were flood by the powerful storm, according to regulatory filings Wednesday.
Posco said in a statement that production and shipments at its Pohang steel plant had been suspended as the rain had flooded significant parts of the plant.
While Posco said it would try to normalise operations as soon as possible but did not provide a time for when it would resume production at the plant.
Posco’s Pohang was also hit by fire on Tuesday, but this was later put out a Posco spokesperson confirmed to Reuters.
The spokesperson added that no casualties have been found and the company was assessing the damage.
The steel plant is one of Posco’s two main sites in South Korea and hosts a significant portion of the group’s annual crude steel capacity, according to Bloomberg.
Posco said Thursday that it aims to restart stalled furnaces in Pohang this weekend, reported the Yonhap News Agency.
As the first integrated steel mill in Korea, Posco has grown to produce 46m tonnes of crude steel a year.
Posco manufactures various steel products, including hot/cold rolled steel, and stainless steel and supplies its products to automobile, construction, electronic appliances and shipbuilding industries.
The typhoon that battered South Korea early Tuesday left at least six people dead and created flooding and power outages.
Companies largely returned to normal soon after the storm passed, with shipbuilders Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering reportedly resuming operations that afternoon.
