Dongkuk Steel Mill Co. has formed a strategic business partnership with Tokyo Steel Co. to cooperate on environmentally friendly steelmaking technologies, the company said Saturday.

Each company will receive a one percent stake in the other as part of their efforts to increase competitiveness in their electric furnace businesses, Donguk Steel said in a statement.

As its main business producing the thick steel plates used in shipbuilding was hard hit by the downturn in the that industry, the South Korean company badly needs a new growth driver.

Steelmakers using an electric furnace recycle scrapped steel into steel products, such as thick steel plates and hot- and cold-rolled coils. Unlike the integrated steel mills at POSCO and Hyundai Steel Co., they do not use coal or iron ore. (Yonhap)

For the whole of 2017, Dongkuk Steel shifted to a net loss of 19.49 billion won (US$18 million) from a net profit of 70.78 billion won a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing.

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