POSCO broke ground on November 12th 2009 for POSCO and Turkey Nilufer Processing Centre a new processing facility specializing in auto steel in the Hasanaga Industrial Complex located in the vicinity of the city of Nilufer in Turkey.
The comprehensive auto steel processing centre is scheduled to open in June 2010 and has been designed to process about 170,000 tonnes of raw materials a year. The upcoming facility is expected to solidify the company’s footprint in Turkey as it plans to strengthen its partnerships with Ford, Renault, Fiat, Hyundai, Toyota and Honda global automakers with a significant business presence in the country.
Thanks to its geographical location as a bridge between Europe and Asia, Turkey has seen its economy grow steadily in recent years. Bursa, the province in which Nilufer is located has become a key industrial area in the country as it features major infrastructure such as expressways and ports connecting important Turkish cities including Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. The area is also clustered with regional headquarters of such global automakers as Renault and Fiat as well as those of their part suppliers.
The opening of POSCO TNPC is expected to provide POSCO’s local customers with high quality steel products in time, which will not only increase their competitiveness but will also help the fast growing Turkish economy in the long run.
Meanwhile, POSCO has started operations at a total of six processing centre in 2009 including 5 new auto steel processing centres in Japan, China, India and Malaysia, plus a Mexican logistics centre. At the same time, the company is seeking to expand sales of its strategic products including auto steel through its existing 41 processing centres in 12 countries.
