POSCO has commissioned South Korea’s largest electric arc furnace (EAF) at its Gwangyang Steelworks, strengthening the company’s low-carbon steelmaking capacity and supporting its long-term decarbonization strategy.
The new furnace has an annual production capacity of 2.5 mln tons and was built with an investment of around USD 400 mln. POSCO said the facility will significantly expand its ability to produce low-carbon steel products in response to growing demand for environmentally sustainable materials.
Compared with conventional blast furnace steelmaking, the EAF route uses steel scrap as its primary raw material and can reduce carbon emissions by up to 75pct.
To support the production of high-grade steel products, POSCO is developing proprietary molten metal mixing technology that combines molten iron from blast furnaces with EAF production during refining. The company aims to mass-produce automotive and electrical steel products through the EAF route by 2030.
POSCO Chairman Chang In-hwa said the project represents an important milestone in the company’s efforts to address decarbonization challenges and strengthen its position in the low-carbon steel market.
The company is also advancing its hydrogen-based ironmaking technology, HyREX, which forms a key part of its 2050 carbon neutrality roadmap. POSCO plans to complete commercialization technology development by 2030 through a pilot facility with annual production capacity of 300,000 tons.
POSCO is one of the world’s largest steel producers, with crude steel output of 33.2 mln tons in 2025. The company operates integrated steelworks in Pohang and Gwangyang and is investing heavily in low-carbon steelmaking technologies, including EAF and hydrogen-based iron production.