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📊 POSCO Holdings: A Showdown Between Lithium Plants and the Steel Market - 2026.10.14
POSCO Holdings

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October 14, 2026

📊 POSCO Holdings: A Showdown Between Lithium Plants and the Steel Market - 2026.10.14

Hey, it’s Dotori 🌰 This story gets interesting when you start with the big picture. News about a lithium plant and talk of steel market conditions are on the same table.

🔗 Let’s Start with the Big Picture

POSCO Holdings held a completion ceremony for the upstream facilities at its second brine lithium plant near the Hombre Muerto salt flat in Argentina [4]. The second plant has annual lithium carbonate production capacity of 23,000 tons, and reports say that combined with the first plant, local production capacity will reach 48,000 tons per year [4]. In other words, the blueprint for the raw-materials side is turning into real facilities. That connection is the key.

⚙️ The Tug-of-War Between Steel and Lithium

There was also an outlook that tough steel market conditions will continue due to rising Chinese exports [2]. That is a forecast reported by the media, not something the company has confirmed. Mirae Asset Securities described POSCO Holdings as “defending with steel and expanding with lithium” and reportedly issued a target price as well [1]. Setting the numbers aside and looking only at the direction, the frame is that steel is the support and lithium is the expansion play. Interesting, right? It feels like holding an umbrella in one hand while looking for a new path with the other.

🏭 Demand Signals on the Materials Side

In the secondary battery sector, a video headline covered news that Samsung SDI increased supply volumes from POSCO Future M [5]. But claims made in the video about the scale should be treated as the video’s own assertions, and it’s worth keeping the source in mind rather than taking them at face value. Looking one step further, there were also reports that nickel-related stocks moved on expectations of a recovery in demand for EV batteries and stainless steel [3]. The key is whether demand passes like a relay from raw materials to materials, and then on to steel.

If I were to interpret the pecking order, I’d put lithium raw-material facilities first, demand for materials such as cathodes second, and the core steel business third. That’s just Dotori’s interpretation, not a confirmed ranking of earnings contributions. The stock closed on October 14 at ₩308,500, up +3.18% from the previous day, and the prior close was ₩298,500. It’s too early to call the direction based on a single day’s move.

🤔 What Remains Uncertain

Dotori thinks how much lithium production will translate into earnings figures remains a key measure for now. If the steel market outlook becomes reality, we also need to assess how well the core business can hold up. The biggest question right now is how lithium operations and steel profitability will show up in the third-quarter results. Which side would you put more weight on?

📰 Reference News (3)

1

[Report Briefing] POSCO Holdings, ‘Defending with steel and expanding with lithium’ — target price 470,000 KRW - Mirae Asset Securities - NewsPim

뉴스핌 · 2026.10.12

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2

[1013 Market Radar] POSCO Holdings: Outlook for continued tough steel market conditions amid rising Chinese exports, etc. By Infostock Daily - Investing.com Korean

Investing.com 한국어 · 2026.10.13

📰 View original
3

Expectations for a recovery in EV battery and stainless steel demand… nickel stocks seesaw

네이버뉴스 · 2026.10.14

📰 View original

📺 Reference Videos (2)

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