SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean steelmaker POSCO suspended production at its Pohang plant due to a fire on Sunday, a company official said, although the company’s overall output likely won’t be affected.
The fire broke out at about 4:20 a.m. (1920 GMT on Saturday) at a furnace in POSCO’s plant in the southeastern city of Pohang, injuring one worker, according to the interior ministry.
The fire was put out in about five hours and authorities are investigating the incident.
The company suspended production at the facility but expected no impact on overall output as has another plant, the company official said.
“It won’t affect the overall operation,” the official said, adding that the company was still assessing when the facility would be reactivated.
The furnace, called the No. 3 FINEX, was completed in 2014 with a production capacity of 2 million tons of molten iron a year, according to the company website.
Posco operates two steel mills in South Korea, one at Pohang and another at Gwangyang in the south.
(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Tom Hogue)
