South Korea’s largest steelmaker Posco, having become leaner through rigorous restructuring over the last four years, vowed to usher the traditional industry into the new age of digitalization and clean fuel by incorporating smart technologies in all of its core capacities and actively developing new materials for energy.

“We will stand at the forefront in the fourth industrial revolution by applying smartization in all of our businesses ranging from steel, energy to construction and chemicals,” the group said in starting the new year that would mark its 50th year in business.

Kwon Oh-joon, chief executive of Posco, has spearheaded the group-wide restructuring initiative since taking the helm in March 2014. He unloaded non-core assets at home and abroad, significantly reducing the number of domestic affiliates from 71 in 2012 to 38 and overseas affiliates from 181 to 124.

This has helped improve the group’s balance sheet by 7 trillion won ($6.59 billion) over the past four years, the company said.

Under a plan to seek new growth in energy and materials sectors, Posco will expand its liquefied natural gas (LNG) midstream operation - which involves transportation, storage and wholesale marketing - and groom its LNG terminal in Gwangyang to one of Northeast Asia’s largest energy hubs.

The company will also boost investment in renewable energy development in search of business opportunities in low-carbon sources. To this end, it will turn its eyes to salt-rich waters and mines in Australia and South America to secure lithium, a vital component to lithium-ion batteries used in smartphones and laptops. It will also refine the manufacturing process of cathode and anode materials used in rechargeable batteries to improve their performance in powering electric vehicles.

By Moon Ji-woong and Kim Hyo-jin

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