MEPS’s global steel production and capacity round-up

Acerinox’s losses from five months’ strike action, Cleveland-Cliffs’ USD2.5 billion acquisition of Stelco and antidumping investigations in Asia all feature in MEPS International’s July global production and capacity round-up.

The compiled articles, featured below, are drawn from content first published for MEPS subscribers in July’s editions of MEPS’s European Steel Review, International Steel Review and Stainless Steel Review publications.

Visit the MEPS website for details of how to subscribe to the monthly reports, which provide subscribers with steel prices, indices, market commentary and forecasts.

Europe

Acerinox

Acerinox’s quarter two financial results show net sales from its stainless steel division totalling EUR993 million and an EBITDA of EUR92m – down 28% and 52% year-on-year, respectively.

Acerinox confirmed that its financial performance was significantly affected by the five-month strike at its Los Barrios site, near Cádiz.

The company melted 384,000 tonnes of crude stainless steel in the three-month period to June 30, 2024. This brings the division’s year-to-date sales to EUR2.1bn and EBITDA to EUR171m, respectively.

Turkey

Authorities in Turkey have launched an investigation into the dumping of Chinese and Indonesian origin stainless cold rolled coil. 

The review was started in response to an application by Turkish stainless steel producer Posco Assan TST and covers imports arriving in Turkey between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2023.

Blastr Green Steel

Recently formed Scandinavian steelmaker Blastr Green Steel has partnered with Primetals to construct a EUR4 billion steel production facility at its site in Inkoo, Finland.

The plans include a new DRI plant, capable of producing 2.5 million tonnes per year, an EAF-based melt shop, thin slab casting and hot-rolling lines, and continuous pickling and galvanising lines.

Secondary metallurgy equipment, including a ladle furnace and a vacuum treatment plant will also be constructed. An off-gas treatment system and a waste heat recovery plant will be installed to help improve efficiency.

Blastr Green Steel plans to utilise 100% green hydrogen as a reducing agent, producing hot DRI to be used internally and hot briquetted iron which will be supplied to other steelmakers. The company is currently targeting a commissioning date in 2027 for the project.

Thyssenkrupp

German steelmaker thyssenkrupp has provided an update on its Duisburg casting and rolling mill modernisation project.

The existing lines, which have been operating for over 25 years, will be closed in November. They will be replaced with a continuous casting line and hot strip mill.

Preliminary excavation and foundation work is nearly complete, and several components have been pre-assembled in preparation for the installation phase. The new equipment is expected to enter service in May 2025.

Arvedi

Italy’s largest steelmaker, Arvedi, plans to revamp two vacuum degasser units operating at its Cremona facility.

The upgrades will allow the company to produce electrical steel via an EAF route, as opposed to the more conventional BOF method. Construction and installation work is expected to take at least 12 months to complete, with the company expecting to commission the new units in the second half of 2025.

Asia

Fujian Tsingtuo

Fujian Tsingtuo has received the environmental approvals necessary to proceed with construction of a new stainless steel plate line at its facility in Fu’an City.

The USD280 million construction project is expected to take 12 months to complete. The plant has a designed annual production capacity of up to one million tonnes of up to 3,500mm width stainless steel plate.

China

China’s Ministry of Commerce has initiated an expiry review on antidumping measures applied to stainless steel billets, coils and plate.

The measures, which were originally introduced in July 2019, apply to material imported from the EU (43%), Indonesia (20.2%), South Korea (23.1-103.1%) and the United Kingdom (43%). They will be reassessed under the new review.

Tariffs on Japanese origin material – ranging from 18.1 to 29.0% – had previously been included in these measures but have been allowed to lapse.

Baosteel

Construction of a new two-strand continuous slab caster will soon start at Baosteel’s Shanghai plant.

The caster will produce both carbon steel and silicon steel slabs with a thickness of up to 230mm, widths ranging from 900mm to 1,450mm and lengths up to 37m. Baosteel says that its new equipment will have an annual output of up to 2.35 million tonnes.

North America

JSW Steel

JSW Steel USA plans to invest USD110 million in the modernisation of its plate mill at Baytown, Texas.

Upgrades to the facility will facilitate the production of high-quality monopile steel plates used in the growing offshore wind energy industry. The Baytown mill will be supplied with slabs produced at the company’s Mingo Junction facility, in Ohio.

JSW Steel USA recently confirmed that this site will also receive an investment of USD145m to improve its manufacturing operations.

Cleveland-Cliffs

Cleveland-Cliffs has announced that it plans to acquire Canadian steel producer Stelco in a cash and share deal worth USD2.5 billion.

The United States’ second-largest steelmaker expects to achieve annual cost savings of up to USD120m, following the completion of the deal, without any loss of jobs. The acquisition has received approval from the board of Stelco but remains subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. Stelco will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary once the agreement is finalised.

Stelco reported a net profit of CAD149 million on sales totalling CAD2.9 billion in 2023. During this time the company shipped around 2.6 million short tons of flat rolled steel products, 72% of which was hot rolled coil.

The company operates two sites in Ontario, an integrated mill at Lake Erie, and its Hamilton Works facility, where it produces galvanised and galvannealed sheet.

Algoma Steel

Algoma Steel has held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil its revamped Sault Ste. Marie plate mill.

Developments at the site included upgrades to the mills' onboard descaling system and the installation of new cooling beds, joining the plate and shear lines. The site’s annual plate capacity has increased by almost 50% to 650,000 short tons through completion of the works.

Algoma Steel also recently confirmed that its EAF construction project, at the Sault Ste. Marie site, remains on track. It is expected to take another six months to complete.