November 22, 2024

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Lee Jung-ho (center), head of global automotive steel sales at Hyundai Steel, and Margita Rejchrtova (second from left), CEO of Tawesco, signed an agreement with other executives last month to supply carbon-reduced steel plates. (Hyundai Steel)

Hyundai Steel is expanding sales bases in international markets such as Europe and America for carbon-reduced steel plates in response to the global push for carbon neutrality and the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.

Recently, Hyundai Steel signed a memorandum of understanding with Tawesco, a leading auto parts company in the Czech Republic, and Eusider, an Italian company specializing in automotive steel plate processing. These companies supply steel materials to major European automakers such as Volkswagen and Stellantis and are now securing carbon-reduced steel plates to meet the carbon neutrality goals of their clients.

The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism is an EU policy that imposes a carbon tax on imports from countries with lower environmental standards to encourage global emission reductions.

The collaboration aligns with Hyundai Steel's investment in carbon-reduced steel plate facilities at its Dangjin Steel Mill. Starting in September, Hyundai Steel will begin testing carbon-reduced steel parts with these customers and plans to expand its market presence through joint marketing efforts.

In May, Hyundai Steel signed another supply memorandum with Kirchhoff Automotive, a German auto parts company that supplies products to global automakers including Volvo, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

“With the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism coming into full effect in 2026, we anticipate a significant increase in demand for carbon-reduced steel plates, especially from European automakers. We're actively engaging with numerous global automakers and parts suppliers to broaden our presence in the carbon-reduced steel market,” said a Hyundai Steel official.

In addition, Hyundai Steel has advanced the start of a steel plate processing plant for electric vehicles in the US state of Georgia, to September, ahead of schedule. This is in response to Hyundai Motor Group's announcement to commence production at its dedicated electric vehicle plant, Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, in the fourth quarter of this year, ahead of its original first-quarter 2025 target.

The steel processing plant in Georgia represents an investment of approximately 131.1 billion won ($94.8 million) and will be equipped with one slitter and two blanking machines, boasting an annual production capacity of 120,000 metric tons for slitters and 8 million blanks per machine. This capacity is designed to support Hyundai’s annual production goal of 250,000 electric vehicles at the new plant.

By Moon Joon-hyun (mjh@heraldcorp.com)