Posco became the first non-Japanese steelmaker to enter a group comprising less than 1 percent of the suppliers to Toyota Motor Corp., rivaling domestic auto sheet providers, including Nippon Steel Corp.
The Japanese unit of South Korea's biggest steelmaker was formally accepted into the Kyohokai, a 222-member group of Toyota's closest suppliers, group spokesman Nakaji Honda said. Posco started supplies to Toyota's domestic factories in 2009 and its plants in Indonesia and India in 2003.
The weakening won has made South Korean products cheaper than Japanese goods, giving Posco an edge over its Japanese rivals weighed down by the rise in the yen.