2022-01-06
South Korea’s two non-ferrous metal product leaders Korea Zinc Inc. and Poongsan Corp. are tipped to report their record earnings in 2021, after strong demand for lead, zinc and copper products pushed their prices higher in line with the global economic recovery.
Emboldened by the robust earnings, Korea Zinc, the world’s largest lead and zinc smelter, is keen to make its foray into new growth areas such as hydrogen and rechargeable battery materials, breaking free from its old mindset: focusing on what it has been doing well.
Korea Zinc. was projected to earn 1.1 trillion won ($914 million) in operating profit for all of 2021, according to analysts, topping the 1 trillion won mark for the first time since it was established in 1974.
In the first nine months to September of last year, its consolidated operating profit leapt 27.2% on-year to 808.8 billion won.
In a new year’s speech this week, Vice Chairman and Co-CEO Choi Yun-Birm said the company will go beyond a non-ferrous metal smelter and expand into renewable energy, green hydrogen, waste recycling and rechargeable battery materials.
Armed with more than 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) in cash reserves, the 48-year-old company is abandoning its decades-long, low-key strategy. Born in 1975, the third-generation leader from its founding family has been at the forefront of the change since he took the helm of Korea Zinc in 2019.
Full Article: Korea Zinc to ditch low-key strategy to go beyond metal – KED Global
