By Kwanwoo Jun


Posco International's shares soared after it broke ground on a new traction-motor-core plant in Poland.

Shares of the trading and energy affiliate of South Korean steelmaker Posco Holdings rose 20% to close at 65,700 won ($47.92) on Thursday, outperforming the benchmark Kospi's 1.0% gain.

Posco International said Wednesday that it began constructing a factory in the Polish town of Brzeg that will manufacture traction motor cores--a crucial component of electric cars--from the second half of 2025.

The plant aims to initially produce 1.03 million traction motor cores annually for electric vehicles made by South Korean carmakers in Europe and later increase its output capacity to 1.2 million to cover other European EV makers as well by 2030, Posco said.

The company said it is upbeat about future demand for traction motor cores, citing the planned European Union ban on vehicles with combustion engines from 2035 and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency forecast that EV sales in Europe will rise to 5.4 million units in 2025 and 10.6 million units in 2030.

Posco has similar plants in South Korea, Mexico and India. By 2030, it aims to produce a total of 7.5 million traction motor cores globally.


Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-13-24 0322ET