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
Deacero Set to Invest $1B in New EAF Mill and Plant Updates in Mexico
Mexican steelmaker Grupo Deacero will invest $1 billion over the next three years as it plans to expand its steel production by 1.2 million tons per year, according to a local report.
CRU: ArcelorMittal Orders New NGO Mill
Luxembourg-headquartered ArcelorMittal has placed the contract for a reversible 6-high cold rolling mill to produce high-grade, non-oriented silicon steel strip (NGO) for use in electric motors. The unit will be installed at the group’s Mardyck plant near Dunkirk in northeastern France where it is adding a 200,000 t/y rolling mill to produce electrical steels for electric vehicles […]
Algoma Swings to Profit, EAF Project on Track
Canada's Algoma Steel Inc. reported better than expected results for its fiscal 2024 first quarter.
Gerdau’s Q2 Shipments Fall on Mill Outages
Longs producer and metal recycler Gerdau reported lower second-quarter production and shipments due to several mill outages.
Stelco Committed to Decarbonization, but Not via EAF Route
While Canadian integrated steelmaker Stelco remains committed to decarbonization its steelmaking operations, it has no plans to convert to electric-arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking, nor to buy an EAF steelmaker anytime soon.