An aerial view of a Dongkuk Steel blast-furnace steel plant(CSP) 

being built in Brazil which is scheduled to go on stream next 

year to produce steel slabs. (Photos: Dongkuk Steel)

Chairman Chang Sae-joo of Dongkuk Steel has always said a steelmaker cannot be successful if it turns out steel products that any steelmaker can make, stressing that Dongkuk Steel should turn out a high-quality steel products. The steelmaker’s Dangjin steel plant has been making just that kind of product that is used in building marine plants and drilling ships, as they can withstand cold temperatures to 30 degrees below zero Celsius and are sold at prices some 20 percent higher than ordinary steel. 

Chairman Chang Sae-joo of Dongkuk Steel is with Gov. Cid Ferreira Gomes  

at a dinner held on the night before the work on the landscape where the CSP 

steel plant is to be built by Dongkuk Steel began on Aug. 10, 2011 at the invitation of Gov. Gomes.

The Dangjin plant has been registered as one of the vendors for eight oil majors including Exxon-Mobil, Total, and Chevron, among others who need high-quality steel. The steel plant has supplied a total of 118,000 tons of special steel plates to 10 marine plants being built around the world since last year. Orders for steel plates for this year are up around 20 percent over last year, despite the slowdown in demand around the world, even with its 20 percent price premium.

The favorable situation is owed to Chairman Chang’s passion to produce high-quality steel plates, of which the Dangjin steel plant is set to produce 300,000 tons this year, accounting for around 30 percent of total steel output by Dongkuk Steel this year.

The steelmaker was launched on July 7, 1954, a year after the Korean War was brought to an end, and has just celebrated its 60th anniversary. The steelmaker, like any other steelmaker around the world, has been suffering from a slowdown in demand for its steel as major industries that use its steel products such as construction, shipbuilding, and automobile manufacturing have suffered depressed conditions in their operations. In 2012, the steelmaker ended the year in the red to the tune of 115 billion won in operating losses. Last year, its performance results turned around a little with total sales at 4.11 trillion won and operating profit rising to 15.3 billion won, showing that the company is not out of the woods yet.

When Chairman Chang took over as the top executive of the steel mill in 2001, he declared the second beginning for the steelmaker. More than a decade has passed since then and the steelmaker has been hard at work to grow with all of its energy and passion, the chairman said, although it has been only a decade since the new declaration was made on its 50th anniversary.

“Ferrum” in Latin means preciousness and eternity, Dongkuk Steel should keep its operation going for over a century as the Latin word suggests, the chairman emphasized. 

What Chang has been counting on to make the steelmaker’s future bright is a blast furnace steel mill being built in Brazil that is scheduled to be completed next year.

At the end of next year, the steel mill in Brazil will soon be producing steel slabs when its blast furnace is ignited, making the entire operation of Dongkuk Steel competitive. The steelmaker expects to cut the prices of raw materials like iron ore and expand its steel product sales to boost the profitability of its operation by some 100 billion won from next year.

On the rumored liquidity problems for the steelmaker, President Nam Yun-young said the company has over 1 trillion won in cash, which is enough to pay off the bonds set to mature in September, and he added, the company will increase its cash holdings until the end of the year to meet its operational needs.