MEPS’s global steel production and capacity round-up

Nippon Steel’s new promises to US Steel workers, the Posco restructuring plan’s latest closure and stainless steelmakers’ subdued outlook all feature in MEPS’s November global production and capacity round-up.

The articles compiled below were first published in the latest editions of MEPS International’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

Nippon Steel

Nippon Steel has made further commitments to the United Steelworkers union in a bid to bolster its offer to purchase US Steel.

The company has said that it “will not import overseas-produced slabs or reduce the ability of US Steel to produce slabs”. It stated that such a move would “not make strategic or economic sense” given the ability of US Steel to produce such material at its Mon Valley and Gary steelworks.

The Japanese steelmaker’s assurances follow the recent announcement that it plans to sell its 50% stake in the AM/NS Calvert facility to ArcelorMittal, its partner in the joint venture, upon completion of the US Steel purchase.

The acquisition is currently being evaluated by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). CFIUS could make its recommendations to outgoing president Joe Biden as soon as late December.

Algoma Steel

Algoma Steel has confirmed that the EAF construction project at its site in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, will soon be completed.

The company expects to commission one of the facility’s two new furnaces in December, with the second coming online shortly after. The two furnaces will have a combined annual production capacity of up to 3.7 million short tons.

Algoma has invested CAD870m in the new equipment, which will reduce the emissions produced at the site by up to 70%. 

Europe

Acerinox

Sales from Acerinox’s stainless steel division recorded a 15.4% year-on-year decline, to EUR1.0 billion, in the third quarter.

The company achieved EBITDA of EUR86 million in the period, however, as stainless steel output increased by 11.8% year-on-year to 473,000 tonnes.

Acerinox has now completed its acquisition of US-based nickel and cobalt alloy specialist Haynes International, via the company’s North American Stainless business.

Haynes International will join VDM Metals, which Acerinox purchased in July 2021, in forming Acerinox’s High-Performance Alloys division.

Outokumpu

Outokumpu’s latest quarterly report shows that the company generated EUR1.52 billion in revenue during the July-September period.

The Finnish steelmaker delivered 459,000 tonnes of stainless steel products during the period, resulting in a net profit of EUR20 million.

Outokumpu expects stainless steel deliveries to decrease by as much as10% quarter-on-quarter in the final three months of the year. It said that this would be due to “deteriorating markets" in its Europe and Americas regions.

Acciaierie d'Italia

Acciaierie d'Italia (ADI) has restarted blast furnace No.1 at its Taranto steelworks in southern Italy.

Prior to the equipment’s October restart, blast furnace No.4 was the only furnace in operation at the site. ADI has confirmed that it also intends to relight blast furnace No.2 in early 2025. The aim is to increase annual crude steel production from an expected output of two million tonnes in 2024 to 4.5-5m tonnes in 2025.

Feasibility studies are currently being undertaken concerning the transition of the Taranto site to low emission steelmaking. A 2.5m tonnes capacity DRI plant has been proposed for the site.

Meanwhile, the special administrator overseeing the sale of ADI continues to evaluate offers submitted to purchase the steelmaker.

UK imports

The UK Trade Remedies Authority (UK TRA) could remove the safeguard tariffs applied to Category 2 non-alloy and other alloy cold rolled sheets as soon January 2025.

It has begun a review of the tariffs in response to an application made by Tata Steel UK. The company is currently the United Kingdom’s only producer of these products but is planning to discontinue their sale. Instead, Tata will consume the material it makes, internally, for production of downstream products. Interested parties have until November 24, 2024, to submit comments.

The UK government has also published the responses it received to a CBAM consultation, launched in March. It confirmed that the proposed import regulations, which will apply a price to the emissions involved in steelmaking, will be implemented from January 1, 2027.

SHS Group

Germany’s SHS Group has confirmed that it will proceed with its EUR4.6 billion decarbonisation plan for its Dillinger, Saarstahl and Rogesa subsidiaries.

As part of the project, the company has awarded contracts for the construction of a new two million tonnes per year capacity DRI plant at its Dillingen site. This will provide feedstock for two new EAFs with a combined annual output of 3.5m tonnes of crude steel.

One of the furnaces will be built for the Dillinger heavy plate facility, while the other will feed Saarstahl’s wire rod and bar mills.

Asia

South Korea

Posco has closed its wire rod facility in Pohang, South Korea, citing an inability to compete with the large volume of low-cost Chinese material being imported into the country.

Production will now be shifted to its other Korean mills. The decision comes three months after the company halted operations at the Pohang site’s Unit 1 steelmaking plant. It ends 45 years and nine months of steelmaking at the facility.

Local reports suggest that Hyundai Steel will also stop producing steel sections at its Pohang plant. The future of the site is being discussed with union officials following the indefinite suspension of production on November 14.

Hyundai Steel’s Pohang facility has recently been operating at below 20% of its 700,000 tonnes annual capacity.

Walsin Lihwa

The board of directors at the stainless long products manufacturer Walsin Lihwa has approved the development of a new stainless steel wire rod facility in Indonesia.

Construction of the Taiwan headquartered steelmaker’s new facility is expected to be completed mid-2026, with the site ramping up to full production in the first half of 2027. Walsin Lihwa is targeting an annual output of 300,000 tonnes of 300 series wire rod.

Walsin Lihwa’s Italian subsidiary Cogne Acciai Speciali recently confirmed that it had completed the acquisition of Mannesmann Stainless Tubes. The seamless stainless steel pipemaker was purchased in a deal worth EUR135 million. It operates facilities in France, Germany, Italy and the United States. The company will now trade under the name DMV.