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Striking construction workers occupied the headquarters of Korea¡¯s largest steelmaker POSCO on Tuesday as part of a protest that have been running for 19 days, the company said Tuesday.
The strike halted work on POSCO¡¯s next-generation Finex forge, which is scheduled for completion late this year. It is also delaying upgrades to the steelmaker¡¯s production facilities intended to tackle intense competition especially from Chinese rivals.
POSCO said the strike means construction of the world¡¯s first next-generation Finex plant would not be completed this year. Finex technology reduces costs by enabling iron to be smelted directly from iron ore fines and coal rather than via sintering and coke-making. POSCO is the world¡¯s first steelmaker to make the technology commercially viable.
POSCO has spent W1.3 trillion (US$1=W959) on building the Finex plant, which is to have an annual production capacity of 1.5 million tons, in Pohang since July 2004.
The company also plans an iron mill in Orissa, India, employing the new technology from 2008, once the Pohang factory is completed.
The strike has also halted POSCO¡¯s facility maintenance and improvement work at its Pohang plant, on which it will spend W11.7 trillion over the next three years.
A POSCO official said key projects set to improve the steelmaker¡¯s status in the international industry were ¡°paralyzed¡± by the strike. Work has been halted at 20 construction sites, costing the company about W10 billion a day, he said.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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