Steel Mills

US Steel To Make NGOES at Big River by Q3 '23

Written by David Schollaert

June 10, 2021

U.S. Steel wants to make Big River Steel the leader in non-grain-oriented electrical steels (NGOES). To that end, the Pittsburgh-based integrated steelmaker will invest $450 million at Big River’s steel mill in Osceola, Ark., to target the growing demand from the electric vehicle market.

US SteelFunded entirely from cash generated at Big River, the NGOES expansion will target a growing customer base in Toyota, GM and Ford—whose electrification spending is expected to surpass $30 billion by 2025, according to a company presentation. The investment will also allow U.S. Steel to use Big River’s technology to produce thinner and wider NGOES to meet a wide-range of specific customer requirements.

NGOES is used not only in electric vehicles but also in power generation applications.

The new NGOES line will have annual production capacity of 200,000 tons. Production of the first NGOES coils are expected to begin in September of 2023.

U.S. Steel’s investment has a strong return prolife with low capital intensity thanks to the significant price premium NGOES commands over hot-rolled coil, the company said in a presentation.

Permitting for the new project is already in place. A U.S. Steel spokesperson declined to provide a ground-breaking date.

By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com

David Schollaert

David Schollaert is deputy editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. David joined SMU after more than a decade in the metals and mining industry in a myriad of different roles. Much of his early experience and expertise were within the coverage and analysis of steel-making raw materials and served previously as senior editor of the CRU Prices Service. Most recently, however, before his return to market analysis, David held roles as a metals buyer and an operations manager for raw material suppliers. He can be contacted at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.

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