OREANDA-NEWS. August 29, 2013. POSCO completed construction of `POSCO ASSAN TST,` their stainless cold-rolled plant with an annual production scale of 200,000 tons, in the Izmit Industrial Complex located in Turkey`s Kocaeli Province.

The completion of this stainless cold-rolled plant in Turkey is significant in that it is POSCO`s first production plant in the European region.

Further, POSCO can not only access the Turkish and European markets, but now also has a strategic base to enter the surrounding countries of the Middle East, Russia, CIS, and North Africa regions.

Several global automobile companies including Renault, Fiat, Ford, Nissan, and Honda are already located in Turkey, while the region is one of the 3 major home appliance strongholds in Europe alongside Germany and Italy, making it a market where demand for high quality stainless cold-rolled products is consistently increasing.

Despite these conditions, however, Turkey did not have facilities to self-produce stainless and has relied completely on imports until now, with shortages having been expected to reach approximately 1 million tons by 2015.

Accordingly, POSCO plans to exert its full efforts to strengthen competitiveness in the Turkish market and also secure demand in the surrounding regions with the completion of this plant. The company will especially increase synergy by providing materials produced by POSCO ASSAN TST to the stainless specialized processing center `POSCO-ITPC` located in the Northern region of Verona, Italy, which starts production this September.

At the completion ceremony, Turkey`s Minister Nihat Ergun of the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, Kocaeli Deputy Mayor Ali Sozen, Kibar Group Chairman Asim Kibar, Korean Ambassador to Turkey Lee Sangkyu, CEO Chung Joonyang and approximately 300 other related personnel attended.

CEO Chung Joonyang said, ``POSCO ASSAN TST is the fruit of the long ties between Korea and Turkey. I hope it will flourish as a loved company that grows together with Turkey.``

Prior to the completion ceremony, CEO Chung had a pleasant chat with Minister Nihat Ergun, and requested continuous support for the Turkey stainless cold-rolled plant and received a response that the Turkey government will actively support it.

With the completion of the Turkey stainless cold-rolled plant, POSCO has established a global production and sales network with an annual production scale of 3 million tons, strengthening its position as a world`s best level stainless manufacturer.