MEPS’s global steel production and capacity round-up

China’s attempts to tackle oversupply and international trade defence measures targeting Chinese-origin steel imports were a key feature of MEPS International’s September global production and capacity round-up.

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

Asia

Trade defence  

The South Korean Trade Commission has confirmed that it has initiated an antidumping investigation of Chinese-origin steel plates.  

The investigation, launched following a complaint submitted by Korean plate manufacturer DKC, will focus on stainless steel plates with thicknesses above 4.75mm and widths greater than 600mm. It will assess dumping rates for material imported in 2023. A preliminary ruling is expected within three months.  

South Korea has made several moves to protect its domestic steel industry from imports of Chinese steel, in recent months. In May, the country announced it would review tariffs applied to stainless hot rolled coil sourced from China, Indonesia and Taiwan. 

Chinese capacity 

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has announced that it is revising steelmakers’ capacity replacement allowances. 

The scheme previously required companies to remove at least an equal amount of existing capacity when they open new mills as a way to curb overcapacity. However, with new plants often operating with higher efficiency than older mills, overall output continued to increase. 

A temporary suspension of approvals for new facilities has been imposed while the department reviews and updates its guidelines. However, MEPS expects this to have little effect in the short term as new facilities that have already received approval are unaffected by the decision. 

Chinese Stainless Trade

Data from the General Administration of Customs of China shows that the country exported 488,000 tonnes of stainless steel in August – a year-on-year increase of 33.4%.   

Total stainless steel exports rose by 22.3% to 3.3 million tonnes in the first eight months of the year. Year-to-date imports totalled 1.33m tonnes in the same period – up 15.0% on 2023. In August, China imported 99,500 tonnes of stainless steel products – a decline of 7.5% compared with the previous year. 

Danieli 

Equipment manufacturer Danieli has confirmed that it has commissioned six new EAFs on behalf of Chinese steelmakers in the last two months. 

The furnaces were ordered by Qiananshi Jiujiang, Zhejiang Yuxin, Heyuan Derun, Baoshan Iron and Steel, and Baosteel Xinyu. They each have capacities ranging from 210-330 tonnes per hour. 

The Italian company also confirmed that another of its EAFs was in the cold testing phase at Hebei Puyang. 

Europe

Tata Steel UK 

Tata Steel UK has confirmed that it will develop a 3.2 million tonnes per year capacity EAF at its Port Talbot steelworks. 

The company will receive GBP500 million in grant funding from the UK government to support the GBP1.25 billion transition from blast furnace steelmaking. In a September 11 statement, Tata said that its new EAF is expected to enter service in 2027. 

Ladle metallurgy furnaces, coil shears for the hot strip mill and new cranes will be among the supporting equipment to be installed at the facility. 

Salzgitter 

Salzgitter is set to install a new hot straightening unit at its Mannesmann Grobblech plate facility in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany. 

The development will expand the site’s sheet metal processing capabilities and enable the production of heavy sheet products for applications such as the monopile structures required for offshore wind farms. 

The new equipment will be commissioned in summer 2026. 

ArcelorMittal 

ArcelorMittal Eisenhüttenstadt’s hot rolling mill in Brandenburg, eastern Germany, has produced its first coils since recent modernisation works. 

The site’s development included upgrades to the automation system which controls its finishing mill, coiler area, and roughing mill. The steelmaker said that the work was completed during recent planned maintenance periods. 

Announcing developments at a separate site, a September statement confirmed that ArcelorMittal had relocated the slag pits at it Differdange facility, in Luxembourg. The pits were moved from the edge of the site to a covered area, closer to the furnace. This new setup aims to improve safety and operational efficiency, while also reducing dust emissions and noise pollution. 

Marcegaglia  

Marcegaglia Stainless has awarded a contract to Primetals Technologies to modernise its electric arc furnace (EAF) and dedusting system in the United Kingdom.   

The GBP50 million project at its Sheffield site will rebuild the furnace with a larger diameter (7.1 meters) to allow faster scrap charging. It is expected to boost output to over 500,000 tonnes per year while improving operational efficiency and the site’s environmental credentials.   

Material produced at the site will be further processed within the Marcegaglia group. Commissioning of the new equipment is scheduled in mid-2026. 

North America

Trade Defence 

Canada will introduce a 25% tariff on all Chinese-origin iron and steel products from October 1.

The Canadian government has stated that this is necessary because Chinese steelmakers “benefit from unfair, non-market acts, policies and practices”. Its decision follows the United States government’s move to apply similar measures from September 27.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), meanwhile, has issued its final determination on the dumping of wire rod from China, Egypt and Vietnam.

The CBSA assigned Jiangsu Shagang a dumping margin of 34%, with other Chinese exporters receiving 46.2%. Egypt's Suez Steel Co will be subject to an 8.6% margin, while other Egyptian exporters face 21.3%. Vietnam's Hoa Phat Dung Quat Steel received a margin of 17.7%, and Hoa Phat Hai Duong Steel was assigned 13.5%.

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