POSCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE:PKX) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Operator: Next question will be Mr. Kim Sang-hoon from HI Investment Securities. Go ahead.

Kim Sang-hoon: So I am Kim Sang-hoon from the HI Investment & Securities. I have three questions. First is the following. So right now we see that raw material is quite strong and I was wondering about the future prospects and I am not seeing investment. So I’m wondering are we seeing an under-evaluated area becoming strong or not. So there were some questions about it so I want to ask you for your forecast. And second is about the lithium and as for the battery materials we are seeing a decrease in price, so I want to ask for your view on the future forecast. And in the value day, you also talked about some earnings release. I was wondering were there any changes from the earnings that you discussed during the value days as compared to now? And right now, [indiscernible] so as compared to other steel companies, do we have any things that we can differentiate against them like OEE or something like that? So if we do have any questions, please let us know.

Han Young-Ah: So let me first answer the question about the raw materials. Actually, we will have Mr. [indiscernible] from raw materials office two answering the question. So head of raw materials office one will be answering the first question. And the second one, we will have the head of lithium battery materials business, [indiscernible] And as for the hydrogen and ethanol we will have the head of steel business [indiscernible] answering the question.

Unidentified Company Representative: So I am head of raw materials office [indiscernible] so I think you all experienced the coke and coal experience in the second quarter so we are seeing stronger coke and coal for the following reason. So in Canada and Australia we have seen a decrease in the labor power and there was a strike in the Australia mine. So this caused some problems. So the supply volume decreased as compared to 2020. However, in terms of demand, India’s ore mines actually increased and expanded. We are also seeing the [indiscernible] plant being operated in India. We were seeing a solid demand and that’s why we saw an increase. However, when you do look at the future forecast, there is the ESG issue. So for the time being, additional investment will not be easy.

And that is the common opinion across the industry. And as for demand as well, we also have ESG in line. Therefore, there is no big factor for an increase there. That means that next year or the year after, for a year or two, as compared to demand, there could be a slight shortage of the supply, about 1 million to 2 million. And as for the price, it could be maintained or there could be a slight increase, so there is a possibility like that, but in the long term, we don’t expect the price to increase by large because there are no factors. And as for POSCO as well, in line with the carbon neutrality roadmap, we are seeing a decrease in demand as well. And we are saying that there will be no issues in getting the supply from our coking coal mines.

Unidentified Company Representative: And I am head of the lithium battery material business, [indiscernible]. And as for the cooking coal and the lithium-nickel battery prices, we have seen a decrease in the price. And you also asked about the future business areas. Recently, with the secondary battery metros, we have seen a drop in price as compared to the previous year. So last year, the price actually there was an irrational price because we could not meet the demand. So it actually increased irrationally as of last year. And when we look at the companies in the industry and when you are focusing on Chinese companies, we saw a drop in the price. So I think we heard that we are going back to the pace where we are going to a rational price.