POSCO seeks to tap into Latin America

POSCO, South Korea's leading steelmaker, said Sunday that it has been seeking ways to cooperate with Latin American countries in developing natural resources. Chung Joon-Yang, chief executive of the company, met with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Friday and expressed an interest in developing the country's natural resources, building social infrastructure and investing in the steel industry, a POSCO spokesman said. Santos responded that he would seek ways to enhance mutual cooperation in the sectors, according to the spokesman. "We are interested in Colombia, which has abundant natural resources like iron ore, coal, oil and natural gas," he said. "The Colombian government and companies want us to participate in developing projects." Before that, POSCO signed a deal with Comibol, Bolivia's state mining company, on July 30 to set up a joint venture to carry out a lithium ion battery project. In Brazil, POSCO signed a deal with South Korean steelmaker Dongkuk Steel Mill Co. and Brazil's Vale S.A. to co-invest in building steel mills in Ceara, northeastern Brazil. The South Korean steelmaker has made efforts to secure stable supplies of raw materials used to make steel products, targeting to raise its self-sufficiency ratio of key raw materials to over 50 percent by 2020 from last year's 19 percent.