SEOUL, South Korea, July 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- The Brazil CSP Steel Plant Complex, the largest-ever steel plant construction order won overseas by POSCO E&C of Korea, has commenced.

POSCO E&C (vice-chairman & CEO Chung Dong-Hwa) announced that it held its groundbreaking ceremony for the Brazil CSP Steel Plant Complex on the 17th (local time) at the Pecem Industrial Complex in Ceara in northeastern Brazil.

3 Million Tons -- EPC Turnkey method

The Brazil CSP Steel Plant Complex worth US$4.34 billion, for which POSCO E&C won the construction order, is a project being pursued by CSP (Companhia Siderurgica do Pecem), a joint venture of Vale (50%), which is Brazil's largest iron ore supplier, Dongkuk Steel (30%), and POSCO (20%).

The first stage project of the Brazil CSP Steel Plant Complex, which is scheduled to produce 3 million tons of slabs, is expected to be completed by late August in 2015, and its business period is 44 months.

In the first stage of the project, POSCO E&C will engage using the project in a turn-key method in which all parts of the steel plant, from its engineering, procurement, construction and test runs, through raw material handling and lime calcination, coke oven equipment, blast furnace, steel making, continuous casting, and generation and auxiliary facilities.

POSCO E&C, which has once again proven its technological prowess in steel plants by winning the order for the Brazil CSP Steel Plant Complex last year, has turned out to be one of the best construction companies that can perform EPC turn-key projects for all processes of steel plants, from engineering, procurement, construction, to its test operations, based on its steel plant construction experience in Pohang and Gwangyang, Korea.

Strategic Partnership with Vale -- Extending Business Fields to the Americas and Europe

Since the Brazil CSP Steel Plant Complex is located in northeastern Brazil, opening the doors to the American and European markets, POSCO E&C is planning to expand its business fields to the Americas and Eastern Europe after successfully completing the project.

For this, POSCO E&C is strengthening its business capacities in the Central and South American regions by establishing a strategic partnership with Vale, a world-renowned resource development company. At the same time, it is also concentrating on finding new business areas in various sectors, such as civil engineering, architecture, and the environment.

POSCO E&C became the first Korean construction company in 2006 to enter the Chilean energy construction market, and it is expected that it will further strengthen its foothold in the Brazilian construction market in the future.

Strong Foothold as a Leader in Entering the Central and South American Markets

POSCO E&C first made contact in the Central and South American region with Brazil. POSCO E&C first started business operations in Central and South America by completing the 4 million ton capacity pallet plant near Tubarao Port in southeastern Brazil in 1998.

Since then, with an aim to be a true global leader, POSCO E&C became the first large Korean construction company to establish the Energy Engineering & Construction Division in December 2006, and aggressively pioneered the energy construction markets of Central and South America, with high energy demand growth anticipated in the region.

As a result, starting with the order for the 240MW coal-fired power plant in Ventanas, Chile in 2006, it won orders for plants amounting a total of US$10 billion in Central and South American countries, such as Peru and Brazil, alone. It has thus established a strong foothold as a leader in the construction market of Latin America.

In particular, POSCO E&C recorded a whopping US$4.1 billion for six energy plants in Chile alone. In 2007, it won back-to-back orders for the 270MW Campiche and 520MW Angamos coal-fired power plants. In 2010, it received orders for the 400MW Santa Maria II coal-fired power plant. Being catapulted with such results, it won orders for two more coal-fired power plants (540MW and 400MW) in June 2012.

CONTACT:
Mr. Chun Dong Jun
+82-32-748-2755
djchun@poscoenc.com

SOURCE POSCO E&C