Germany’s Salzgitter, Mubea partner on low carbon steel production, recycling

Salzgitter is to cooperate with German automotive components manufacturer Mubea on sustainable steel production, low carbon steel product processing and closed loop steel recycling, the German steelmaker said Nov. 22.

The two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding for the cooperation, which will assist Mubea in its aim of increasing its use of low carbon steel products.

Under the SALCOS low carbon steelmaking transformation program, Salzgitter plans to switch its steel production to hydrogen-based processes from end-2025 to become carbon neutral from 2033.

The steelmaker already produces low-CO2 steel products via a scrap-based process route in electric arc furnaces, it said.

Mubea has committed to reducing its emissions by at least 25% through to 2025.

“Wherever possible, we want to avoid, reduce, and ultimately eliminate future greenhouse gas emissions in order to achieve net zero through this approach by 2035,” Mubea Global Purchasing Director Division Body Tobias Klein said.

Salzgitter and Mubea have been long-standing partners for more than 20 years, with the latter sourcing deliveries of high-grade strip steel products that it processes further, primarily for the automotive industry.

“The cooperation with Mubea shows that customers trust in SALCOS as a path toward green steel production and perceive added value in the transformation,” Salzgitter Flachstahl Sales Director Phillip Meiser said, adding that markets for low carbon steel were emerging and different customer sectors were striving to work together.

For recycling, the two companies were establishing new logistics concepts between its integrated steelworks and a number of Mubea sites in Europe.

“Our partners are interested in realizing closed loops in order to take the supply of raw materials and the disposal recyclables to a new level,” Meiser said.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed domestic HRC prices in Northern Europe at Eur615/mt ($631/mt) ex-works Ruhr Nov. 21, down 33% since the start of 2022.

— Jacqueline Holman