POSCO South Korea leading steelmaker is seeking to build a plant in China that produces steel sheets for automobiles in a bid to secure a solid foothold in the fast growing economy.

Company officials said that the plant, when completed in Guangdong, southern China, would have an annual production capacity of 450,000 tons of galvanized steels, mostly used in making vehicles. The construction of the plant is likely to start next year for completion by 2013.

Galvanized steel sheets, coated with zinc, are used for automobiles and electronics goods.

A company official said that "Automotive production in China is continuously on the rise, and we are seeing demand for high end automotive steel sheets will increase as well.”

The world's third-largest steelmaker has been seeking additional sources of galvanized steel. In March, POSCO started building a plant in India to produce 450,000 tonnes of the metal annually.

(Sourced from Reuters)