Shifting to low-emissions steel products, investment in new technology and adapting to the requirements of a more demanding market will be essential for the development of the industry, says Hydnum Steel’s chief commercial officer, Gilles Mirol during a panel at the Kallanish Global Flat Steel conference held in Istanbul on 16 October.
“We are innovators in a business environment that now presents major challenges such as market protection, [Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism] CBAM, and unfair imports. Defending c4apex for a company already established in the sector is more difficult than for a company like Hydnum Steel, because it has to transform its production, business model, etc, while for us, it is an advantage to be a greenfield project,” Mirol observes.
Spain’s Hydnum Steel (HS) is building the first low-emissions steel mill on the Iberian Peninsula and will use fossil-free energy throughout the manufacturing process before gradually incorporating green hydrogen. The plant will have a flat steel capacity of 2.6 million tonnes/year and is expected to become operational in 2026.
Until 2030, many steel companies will have to adapt to the new rules of an advanced decarbonisation market, where HS will be very well-positioned.
According to Mirol, customers are changing and becoming more demanding of innovative and sustainable products.
“We see a deficiency in some products. Modern industrial projects demand the supply of high-added value steel, while the sale of poor-quality material will become more and more limited. There is a great opportunity for new actors producing low-emissions steel to become more and more important,” he continues.
Europe’s paradigm shift is already being transmitted to other regions that are more conservative in their investment in technological advances.
“The future does not belong only to the biggest producers with big investment capacities, but also to the most agile, to those who know how to anticipate trends and connect new technology. The development of the steel industry is no longer inherited, it is programmed,” he concludes.
Todor Kirkov Bulgaria
