Global Slag News

Belgium: World crude steel production rose by 4.1% year-on-year to 427Mt in the first three months of 2018, according to data from the 64 countries reporting to the World Steel Association. Asia produced 294Mt of crude steel, an increase of 4.6%. The European Union (EU) produced 43.1Mt, up by 0.9%. North America produced 29.5Mt, an increase of 1.9%.

Austria: Voestalpine has held the official ground breaking ceremony for its new steel plant in Kapfenberg. Once operational in 2021 the new Euro350m plant will produce around 205,000t/yr of steel for the aviation, automotive and oil and gas sectors. The site is intended to replace the existing Voestalpine Böhler Edelstahl plant in Kapfenberg. The plant will use an electric arc furnace to melt down scrap combined with various alloy metals into special steels. It will operate using electricity generated from renewables.

Poland: Primetals Technologies has received a provisional acceptance certificate (PAC) from ArcelorMittal Poland for the replacement of the second LD (Basic Oxygen Furnace) converter at the Dąbrowa Górnicza steel works. The converter entered service in February 2018. It follows a previous project by Primetals Technologies to replace a converter at the site in 2016.

As in the case of Converter #1, Primetals Technologies supplied the vessel and the trunnion ring, including the Vaicon Link 2.0 suspension, for Converter #3. The converter bearings and the enclosure have also been renewed. The order included also removal of the existing vessel and assembly and installation of the new equipment. This had been handled by ZKS Ferrum, the Polish partner in the consortium.

ArcelorMittal Poland is the leading steel producer in Poland, operating six production plants in the south of the country. Its range of products includes profiles, rails, fittings for the construction, transport and mining industries, as well as flat products for the automotive industry and domestic appliances.

Russia: Evraz’s consolidated crude steel output fell by 5.5% year-on-year to 3.3Mt in the first quarter of 2018. The steel producer blamed the fall on lower pig iron production due to iron ore supply issues in relation to poor weather in January and February 2018. It also attributed the decline to technical issues with blast furnaces #1 and #3 at its Zsmk plant, a shutdown of the blast furnace #6 at Ntmk and the divestment of its Ukrainian Dmz subsidiary in March 2018. Total steel product sales dropped by 5.7% due to lower crude steel production. Sales of semi-finished products fell by 16.6%, primarily due to reduced pig iron and crude steel production. This was partly offset by a 5.7% increase in the output of finished products, mainly for the construction industry.

China: The Ministry of Ecology and Environment has banned imports of steel slag from the end of 2018. It is part of 16 scrap metal and chemical waste products, according to Reuters. A further 16 items will be banned by the end of 2019. The government’s crackdown on waste imports is part of a ‘war on pollution.’