Moody's has upgraded Posco from A3 to A2, which is even higher than the national credibility grade for all of Korea (A3). Posco’s new rating is the highest among the credibility grades of all blast furnaces of the world, and is the second highest among all steelworks after Nucor, which is ranked as A1.

Moody's reasons for increasing Posco’s grade included the company’s stable financial structure and high-profitability value-added management. Specifically, Posco has gradually increased its liability ratio and has continually expanded its distribution of stainless and automotive steel plates.

Other Korean companies with a grade higher than that of Korea include Samsung Electronics, SKT and the Korea Electric Power Corporation, which received an A2 grade last May. SKT also received an A2 grade and Samsung Electronics moved up two steps from A3 to A1 to receive the highest credibility grade among all companies in Korea. Samsung Electronics, ranked 39th, is the first Korean company to be included in the list of the top 50 companies of the world.

Posco recorded US $20.929 billion sales in 2004, a 40.2% increase over 2003, which compares to an average of 13% growth by the 2005 Global 500. Posco became the first Korean company to be included as one of the top 50 companies in the world, ranking 33rd based on its incremental sales increase. Posco also ranked 15th for its earnings per capital, which stood at 14.3% in 2004, and 36th for its earnings per sales, which was recorded at 15.9%. The 2005 Global 500 recorded averages of 4.3% and 2.7%, respectively.

These rankings reflect that based on its management innovations and superior steel production capacity, Posco is being recognized as a competent global company. Fortune has already ranked Posco as one of the "Most Admired Steel Company in the World" four times in a row, and Forbes has selected Posco as the "Top Steelmaker among the World's Top 400 Companies" for four consecutive years since 2000.