MEPS’s global steel production and capacity round-up

US mills’ capacity expansion plans, new investment by Italian-based longs producers and additional stainless capacity in China all feature in MEPS International’s August global production and capacity round-up.

The compiled articles, featured below, are drawn from content first published for MEPS subscribers in the August 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.

North America

ArcelorMittal 

ArcelorMittal expects to complete construction of a 1.5 million tonnes per year capacity EAF and caster at its AM/NS Calvert, Alabama, facility before the end of the year.  

Earlier this year the company revealed that a non-grain-oriented electrical steel line, with an annual output of up to 150,000 tonnes, would be built at the site. The AM/NS Calvert facility is a 50/50 joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel.  

In the first half of 2024, the Calvert site shipped 2.4 million tonnes of finished steel products. From this, it generated sales totalling USD2.5 billion and reported an EBITDA of USD354 million. 

North Star BlueScope Steel 

BlueScope Steel plans to conduct a project to eliminate production bottlenecks at its hot strip mill at its North Star minimill in Ohio.  

The USD130 million development will include improvements to the plant’s ladle furnace, cooling station and coiling unit, in addition to various rolling mill upgrades.  

The project will be completed over the next two years, according to the Australia-based flat product producer. It follows the recent completion of an 850,000 tonnes per year capacity expansion scheme at the site and will increase the plant’s current three million tonnes annual output by an additional 10%.  

Vinton Steel 

United States rebar producer Vinton Steel will spend USD230 million constructing a new steelmaking plant and conducting a partial renovation of its existing rolling equipment.  

The company, based in Vinton, Texas, hopes that the investment will reduce its operating costs by increasing production and shipping volumes by up to 300,000 short tons per year.  

Construction is expected to start in December 2024, with a planned completion date of January 2027. Vinton Steel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan’s Kyoei Steel, which acquired the company in 2016. 

Europe

Feralpi

Work is progressing on the construction of a new long product rolling mill at Feralpi’s site in Riesa, Germany.

The new equipment will produce coils weighing up to eight tonnes using a fully electric process, with zero direct emissions. The project, which broke ground in July 2022, is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. It will increase the site’s annual production capacity to 1.25 million tonnes.

Pittini

Pittini Group has contracted equipment manufacturer Danieli to modernise the wire rod mill at its Acciaierie di Verona facility.

The Italian steelmaker’s upgrade will involve the installation of a new automated bar finishing line that will work alongside the site’s existing equipment. It will be capable of processing bars with diameters ranging from 8mm to 36mm into bundles weighing up to five tonnes.

The new equipment at the Acciaierie di Verona facility is expected to enter service before the end of 2025.

Asia

Posco Zhangjiagang 

Posco has received the approvals necessary to add a new stainless steel plate line at its Zhangjiagang site in China’s Jiangsu province. 

The line will have an annual output of up to 60,000 tonnes and will be capable of producing stainless steel plate with thicknesses of between 8mm and 80mm and widths ranging from 1,500mm to 4,100mm.  

The USD45 million construction project is scheduled to begin this month and has a planned completion date of December 2025. 

Yantai Walsin Stainless Steel 

Yantai Walsin Stainless Steel has completed the commissioning of its recently completed long product mill in China’s Shandong province.  

The new equipment has an annual output of up to 420,000 tonnes of stainless steel bars and rods, allowing the company to meet increased demand for these products.  

It produces straight bar with diameters ranging from 40mm to 130mm, bar in coil with diameters from 18mm to 40mm, and wire rod in diameters from 5.5mm to 18mm.