MEPS’s latest global steel production and capacity round-up

Canada’s hot rolled plate antidumping investigation, an end to the UK’s cold rolled coil import safeguards and the latest mill developments feature in MEPS’s latest global steel capacity round-up.

The monthly summary of the key changes to the steel industry’s operational developments and trade defence measures draws on articles first published in MEPS’s European Steel Review, International Steel Review and Stainless Steel Review.

Insight and analysis of other factors affecting steel industry – including the March 12 imposition of US import tariffs – can be found elsewhere in the monthly reviews, which provide subscribers with steel prices, indices, market commentary and forecasts. Visit the MEPS website for details of how to subscribe.

North America

Pacific Steel Group

Pacific Steel Group (PSG) has secured USD200 million in funding to construct a 380,000 short tons per year capacity rebar micromill in Mojave, California.

The steelmaker will receive a loan from investment firm Generate Capital to progress the project – first announced in 2022 – which had been on hold due to a legal dispute. PSG alleged that Commercial Metals Company (CMC) and Italian equipment producer Danieli had engaged in anti-competitive actions to prevent the mill’s development. In November 2024, a local court ruled in PSG’s favour.

The Mojave facility is now expected to be commissioned by 2027. It will be the first steel mill to operate in California since the closure of the CMC Rancho Cucamonga site in 2019.

Trade defence: Canada

Canadian authorities have launched an antidumping review into imports of hot rolled plate products originating in Germany and Taiwan.

The review, initiated by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) on February 13, will determine if the current rates for Germany (68.6%) and Taiwan (80.6%) need to be amended due to changing market circumstances.

The material under investigation falls within the 720811 and 720812 tariff codes. Exporting companies have until March 24, 2025, to submit evidence. The results of the review will be published in July 2025.

ArcelorMittal

ArcelorMittal will construct a new manufacturing facility that will produce non-grain-oriented electrical steel in Calvert, Alabama.

An annealing and pickling line, cold rolling mill, annealing coating line, packaging and slitter line, and additional ancillary equipment will be included in the development, according to a statement issued by the steelmaker.

The facility will be built near to the ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel joint venture AM/NS Calvert site and will have an annual electrical steel production capacity of up to 150,000 tonnes when it is commissioned in 2027.

Europe

UK trade defence

The UK government has accepted the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) recommendation to cancel safeguard measures on Category 2 non-alloy and other alloy cold-rolled sheets.

The TRA’s decision follows the conclusion of a review, launched in November 2024, in response to Tata Steel UK’s request that the measures be removed. The company, previously the United Kingdom’s sole producer of these products, had confirmed that it intended to discontinue sales of this material.

The decision to remove the 25% tariff-rate quota on imports of Category 2 non-alloy and other alloy cold-rolled sheets came into effect on January 22, 2025.

Thyssenkrupp

German steelmaker thyssenkrupp has invested EUR150 million in a new annealing and isolating line at its Bochum site.

The line allows the site to produce electrical sheets with thickness ranging from 0.2mm to 1.0mm and widths of between 700mm and 1,350mm. It processes up to 220,000 tonnes per year.

Aperam

Aperam’s quarter four financial results show that its Stainless & Electrical Steel division recorded sales of EUR994 million during the period – a 2% year-on-year decline.

The division reported an operating income of EUR25m, compared with a EUR73m loss in the same period last year, as shipments declined by 1.5% year-on-year, to 401,000 tonnes. Aperam stated that its average steel selling price for the quarter was EUR2,382 per tonne.

The Stainless & Electrical Steel division’s full-year 2024 financial results recorded revenues down 5.2%, at EUR4.0bn, on shipments down 4.7% year-on-year at 1.63m tonnes. The company achieved an operating income of EUR75m, up from a £25m loss the previous year.

Acciaierie Venete

Italian long product producer Acciaierie Venete has contracted equipment manufacturer Danieli to construct a new 100-tonne EAF at its Padua facility. 

The furnace, which is expected to have a production capacity of up to 750,000 tonnes per year, will be commissioned during a six-week scheduled shutdown in mid-2026.

Acciaierie Venete is also installing a new wire rod line at its Sarezzo plant, in Brescia, which is expected to enter service later this year.

Rogesa

SMS group has been commissioned to modernise blast furnace 4 at Rogesa’s facility in Dillingen, Germany.

The project being carried out by the German steelmaker – a joint subsidiary of Dillinger and Saarstahl – is due to be completed in quarter three and involves a 55-day shutdown to install a new hearth lining. The furnace has been in operation for 50 years and was most recently relined in 2016.

Asonext

Italian stainless steel producer Asonext has completed upgrades to the 40-tonne argon-oxygen decarburisation (AOD) converter at its Brescia facility.

The changes include a redesigned vessel with a 30% increase in its inner volume. This will improve reaction efficiency and extend the equipment’s lifespan.

The enhanced converter will enable the company to produce 50,000 tonnes of special stainless steel annually. 

East Asia

Fujian Hongwang

Fujian Hongwang is set to modernise the continuous rolling unit at its facility in Fu’an, Fujian province, to increase its output of stainless cold rolled coil.

The development will raise the plant’s current annual production capacity to 950,000 tonnes – an increase of more than 35%.

A new bright annealing unit will also be installed at the site as part of the project, which is due to be completed in quarter three of 2026.

Stainless steel production

Figures from worldstainless show that global crude stainless steel output rose by 5.4% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2024.

Production reached 46.1 million tonnes during the period to the end of September, with Chinese steelmakers accounting for 28.6m tonnes of that total. Mills in Japan, Taiwan and India melted a combined 5.4m tonnes.

The crude stainless steel output of Europe and the United States totalled 4.7m and 1.5m tonnes, respectively.