International Steel Mills

Hyundai Steel Starts 3rd Blast Furnace
Written by Sandy Williams
September 15, 2013
In light of the statistics shared earlier in this newsletter regarding South Korean shipments of hot dipped galvanized into the United States by port. We thought our readers would be interested in learning that South Korean steelmaker; Hyundai Steel is expanding their production capabilities (even with 700+ million metric tons of capacity in neighboring China).
South Korea’s Hyundai Steel flexed its market share muscles with the start-up of its third blast furnace on Friday. The newest furnace increases Hyundai Steel’s capacity by 4 million tonnes to 12 million tonnes (13.22 million net tons).
The eleventh largest steelmaker also has 12 million tonnes of capacity from electric arc furnaces bringing its total capacity to 24 million tonnes—a figure that worries analysts in light of the current oversupply of steel (26.45 million net tons).
Hyundai Steel is a major supplier to the auto industry, but it also supplies the ship building industry which has stalled this year. Recent data from the MIDSHIP Report has shown an oversupply of seaborne shipping vessels. Shipbuilders in China reported a drop in demand and pricing for new vessels that could threaten closure of more than a third of their shipyards within the next five years.
A part of Hyundai Motor Group, Hyundai Steel plans to increase its supply of auto steel to Kia Motors Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co. by 30 percent to 4.9 million tonnes in 2014 —fulfilling 70 percent of the total steel demand of the automakers.
Kia Motors has one manufacturing facility in West Point, Georgia and is capable of producing 300,000 cars annually. Hyundai Motors has a manufacturing facility in Alabama where the company is running three shifts and the U.S. operations are forecast to sell 734,000 vehicles this year in the U.S.A.
The additional production capacity of the third blast furnace is perceived as a threat to the market share of rival steelmaker POSCO and auto and ship steel suppliers in Japan.

Sandy Williams
Read more from Sandy WilliamsLatest in International Steel Mills

CRU: Bids made for Ilva assets
The Italian government has received 10 offers for the former Ilva integrated steel works at Taranto, but only two bidders are interested in purchasing all of the company’s assets.

Global steel production declined through August
August marked the second-lowest monthly production rate this year, down 13% from the two-year high of 166.6 million mt in March.

Algoma Steel assesses viability of US sales in wake of 50% S232 tariffs
Canadian flat-rolled steelmaker Algoma Steel is reconsidering its presence in the US market after the doubling of US Section 232 tariffs on imported steel to 50%, a company spokeswoman said.

Nippon plans to double steel output at USS operations: Report
Now that it has acquired U.S. Steel, Nippon Steel is planning a significant expansion of its US operations, including the construction of a new mill and more than doubling its steel output.

Global steel mill output steady through May
Global raw steel production rose 2% from April to May, slightly above average production levels seen in recent months, according to data recently released by the World Steel Association (worldsteel).