Steel Mills

EAF at Cliffs' Middletown Works Would Make Electrical Steels for EVs
Written by Michael Cowden
April 24, 2022
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. will install an electric-arc furnace (EAF) at its steel mill in Middletown, Ohio, to make electrical steels for electric vehicles (EVs) – but only if demand merits it.
“Let’s see how many of my clients will be really doing what they’re saying they’re going to do in terms of electric vehicles,” company chairman, president and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said.
“For now, it’s just a permit. For now, it’s just the preparation for something that might happen,” he added. “I don’t believe that all of them (automakers) will be successful.”
Goncalves made the comment during the Cleveland-based steelmaker’s first quarter earnings conference call on Friday, April 22.
SMU has reported on the air permit for an EAF at Middletown Works. Cliffs had not previously disclosed that the EAF, if built, would focus on electrical steels.
But the company has said it has no plans to replace the blast furnace at Middletown with an EAF given that the furnace was relined a year ago and so has at least 15 years of life left.
An EAF to make electrical steels appears to square with that pledge. It could complement the carbon hot-rolled, cold-rolled and coated flat-rolled steels currently made at Middletown.
Electrical steels are expected to see increased demand as more EVs – and the charging infrastructure necessary for them – are built.
Cliffs already makes electric steels at its Butler Works in western Pennsylvania. And demand is good. “We are sold out,” Goncalves noted.
Goncalves also said that Cliffs is currently the only domestic manufacturer of a full range of electrical steels. But the company faces import competition, mostly from South Korea, whose steelmakers “love to dump,” he alleged.
The US imported 50,228.7 metric tons of electrical sheet and strip steel in 2021. The bulk of that material came from Japan (23,054.7 tons), with South Korea a close second (16,943.6 tons). France was a distant third (4,220 tons), according to Commerce Department figures.
By Michael Cowden, Michael@SteelMarketUpdate.com

Michael Cowden
Read more from Michael CowdenLatest in Steel Mills

August US mill shipments slip but still higher than last year
The American Iron and Steel Institute reported a decline in the monthly shipments of US mills from July to August.

TransPod, Algoma, Supreme Steel linkup anchors Canadian steel in high-speed transit build
The three Canadian companies have announced a strategic partnership to support the development of an ultra-high-speed transit line from Edmonton to Calgary.

Metallus, USW agree to tentative four-year labor deal
Metallus and the United Steelworkers (USW) have agreed to a tentative four-year labor contract.

ArcelorMittal Dofasco resumes cokemaking after emergency maintenance
The Canadian steelmaker reported on Sept. 30 that “urgent maintenance” was needed in its coke plant off-gas systems. The work required coke oven gas from the No. 2 coke plant to be flared for most of that week.

AISI: Raw steel production ticks back down
US raw steel output declined last week after increasing the week prior, according to the latest data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Output has see-sawed from week to week since mid-August. Still, it has remained historically strong over the past four months and has held near multi-year highs since June. Domestic mills […]