POSCO INTERNATIONAL : CEO Joo Si-Bo Resumes Checking Its Global Supply Chain

POSCO INTERNATIONAL CEO Joo Si-Bo Resumes

Checking Its Global Supply Chain

- Visiting Uzbekistan from 9th to 12th to discuss the development of raw cotton cluster with the Governor of Fergana

- Completion of value chain from cotton harvest to spinning and weaving and textile manufacturing

POSCO INTERNATIONAL CEO Joo Si-Bo resumes checking its global supply chain after having put it on hold due to COVID-19 and sets out to look after investment corporations in person.

The CEO visited Uzbekistan from 9th to 12th, examined the logistics supply chain, and met Bozorov Hayitbayevich, the Governor of Fergana, to discuss the pending issues related to the development of a raw cotton cluster.

Uzbekistan is one of the top six cotton exporters in the world. Starting from establishment of a local spinning mill in 1996, POSCO INTERNATIONAL has developed the largest cotton spinning company in Uzbekistan with a total of five spinning mills and weaving mills in Fergana and Bukhara Regions. Sales and operating profit also increased continuously and operating profit of USD 37 million was accomplished as of last year, making the textile weaving one of the representative investment projects, together with the palm business in Indonesia.
*Spinning: The process of drawing out short strands of cotton fibers to form a yarn
*Weaving: The process of interlacing threads vertically and horizontally to generate textiles

Convinced of the need to grow raw cotton to increase the added value of cotton spinning business, POSCO INTERNATIONAL successfully secured 5,210 ha (18 times the size of Yeouido) of area to cultivate raw cotton in the Yaziyovon District in Fergana Region near the corporate office last March.

With this, the value chain from raw cotton production to spinning and weaving was complete. POSCO INTERNATIONAL plans to found a processing mill in the Yaziyovon District before the end of this year and carry out processes from cotton harvest to manufacturing of threads and textiles.

Along with the acquisition of a farm, POSCO INTERNATIONAL obtained RCS and GRS certifications simultaneously from Control Union, an international environmental certification authority, in last November, last November to go with the environment-friendly trend in the textile industry.
* Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) and Global Recycled Standard (GRS) certifications: Recycling-related international certifications applied to textiles. The sources of recycled materials are verified, and all the processes from the raw materials to the final products are tracked and controlled by a certification authority.

As global brands including IKEA, H&M and ZARA obtained the GRS certification and aim to produce all products with recyclable materials by 2030, the acquisition of the certifications are expected to accelerate POSCO INTERNATIONAL's headway into the global market.

"The development of a cotton spinning cluster and acquisition of environmental certification have gathered momentum for the cotton spinning business in Uzbekistan," emphasized CEO Joo Si-Bo during the one-on-one talk with the Governor of Fergana. "As the representative foreign-funded enterprise in Uzbekistan, we will grow together with the local community."

"We are happy to do business together with POSCO INTERNATIONAL that has both the project capacity and the technical expertise," said Governor Hayitbayevich. "We will actively support the cotton spinning cluster project of POSCO INTERNATIONAL in the future."

As a part of the civilian-level diplomatic activities in the meantime, CEO Joo Si-Bo also requested the Government of Uzbekistan to support for the bid to host the World Expo 2030 Busan.