South Korean steel-making company POSCO [005490:KS] has begun construction of a KRW1tr (USD800m) production facility for non-oriented electrical steel sheet at its Gwangyang steelworks, in response to growing demand for environmentally friendly steel in the automobile and home appliance industries, as reported by Nikkei Asia on April 23. Non-oriented electrical steel sheet is one of the key materials to improve energy efficiency in electric vehicles (EVs) and appliance motors. POSCO plans to quadruple the annual production capacity of the material at this site to 400,000 tons by 2025.

According to Yicai, only a few manufacturers, such as Baosteel [600019:CH], Shougang Group [000959:CH], POSCO, Nippon Steel [5401:JP], and JFE Steel [5411:JP] can produce non-oriented electrical steel sheets for EV manufacturing. In 2020, Baosteel produced 2.71m tons of non-oriented electrical steel sheets and 840,000 tons of orientated electrical steel, according to its annual report. It has grown to become the world’s largest provider, with a 30% worldwide market share. Furthermore, Baosteel has begun construction on a new plant in Shanghai to produce non-oriented electrical steel sheets, which is expected to begin production in early 2023. The new factory is expected to increase output from 400,000 tons per year to 1m tons per year by 2023, supplying ingredients for 4m new energy vehicles yearly.

Sources:

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Materials/South-Korea-s-POSCO-to-build-800m-plant-for-EV-steel

https://www.99steel.cn/News/2021/11/18/19353102.html

https://tks.mysteel.com/22/0424/11/8FDFB6957C5DA361.html

https://www.yicai.com/news/101268365.html