South Korean shipyards' insatiable appetite for steel will be eased when a huge new steel plant is opened for business in 2011. Work on the $5Bn facility began this week at Danjin, about 100km southwest of Seoul, for Hyundai Steel Co, part of Hyundai Motor Group. Initial capacity will be 7M tonnes per annum, rising to 12Mtpa by 2015 when a third blast furnace will be added. Hyundai Steel has already called for bids from shipping companies to transport iron ore and coke. Steel for shipbuilding is currently sourced from Korea's Posco and Dongkuk mills and from Japanese steelmakers. Korean yards have a long-standing issue with steel makers over price. Dongkuk charges $665 per ton against Posco’s rate of $612 per ton. Prices of Japanese makers range between $600 and $610 per ton.
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