Metinvest focuses on Finland, Sweden as new markets
Metinvest restructured its exports following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has found new markets with the reopening of seaports, says chief operating officer Oleksandr Myronenko.
“First, we exported through Poland to the north, to the ports of Gdansk, Swinoujscie and others,” he told Ukrainian-based business magazine The Page. “There was also a logistics chain to the south, reaching the Romanian port of Constanta.”
“We primarily export iron ore to China and both iron ore and metal to Europe. Now we are even dealing to markets in northern Europe where we have never exported before – to Finland and a little bit to Sweden,” Myronenko said.
“They [Nordic customers] have posed a challenge as customers there are quite demanding and require very high-quality products. We have thus also started production of new types of products with increased iron content,” he added.
According to him, 2024 has been quite challenging since Metinvest did not anticipate such a drop in prices, which are currently 30-40% lower than forecast.
“In terms of steelmaking, the group managed to keep five blast furnaces operational – three at Zaporizhstal and two at Kametstal – along with the full range of rolled products. These plants have reached approximately 75% of their capacity compared with the pre-invasion situation. Considering the destruction of plants in Mariupol, Metinvest’s steel production now stands at around 35-40% of pre-war levels,” Myronenko noted.
Ukraine’s steelmakers are sustaining these production volumes thanks to the reopening of seaborne exports, Kallanish notes.
“We started the year with rather modest production expectations of around 1 million tonnes/month of iron ore,” Myronenko said. “However, the consistent operation of the ports ensured steady demand from Ukraine’s steelmakers, and by the end of the year we had reached 1.6-1.7m t/m. This represents 40-50% of capacity compared with 2021. Three of the group’s mining and processing plants are currently operating.”
The company was forced to suspend operations at Inghulets Iron Ore due to high tariffs for imported electricity during power outages. Given the specifics of the production chain and high energy costs, maintaining operations became inefficient, Myronenko continued.
“Central Iron Ore and Northern Iron Ore are operating quite well. Southern Iron Ore is severely impacted by power restrictions caused by missile attacks on Ukraine, forcing us to balance consumption,” he said. “We have simply suspended some of the equipment there.”
Svetoslav Abrossimov Bulgaria
GreenIron, Scandinavian Steel sign distribution agreement
GreenIron, the start-up venture that was firstly announced in spring this year, has entered into an agreement with Scandinavian Steel AB, a Nordic distributor of metals, Kallanish notes. Both companies are headquartered in Stockholm.
According to a statement by the companies, Scandinavian Steel will become the exclusive distributor of GreenIron’s fossil-free iron, to be produced in Sandviken, Sweden. The agreement covers regular delivery of hydrogen-based direct reduced iron, which will be offered to the Nordic and European markets, they state.
“This partnership is a milestone not just for Scandinavian Steel but for the entire industry. Offering fossil-free iron to our customers is not only important – it is essential,” says Peter Witz, Scandinavian Steel chief operating officer.
GreenIron is set to begin commercial production in Sandviken in 2025. The market has already shown significant interest in GreenIron’s fossil-free production, the company notes. In summer, it collected SEK 100 million ($9m) of additional financing, and on that occasion also announced a larger financing round within the next six to nine months.
Christian Koehl Germany
Marcegaglia is set to double stainless production at its site in Fagersta, Sweden
Marcegaglia Fagersta Stainless announced a Eur100million investment to double the company’s production volumes in the coming years, the company said on Nov. 6 during its 150th anniversary.
In Sweden, Marcegaglia produces around 60,000 mt of wire rod and aims to double its total production with the bar and stainless wire rod production.
“This strategic investment will expand our product offering to include a full range of stainless steel wire rod, bar, as well as rolled billets,” the company said. “The project, set to roll out over the next few years, positions Fagersta Stainless for continued growth, efficiency and sustainability in the global stainless steel Long Products market.”
At the end of September, Antonio Marcegaglia, chairman and CEO of Italy’s Marcegaglia Group, already anticipated to S&P Global Commodity Insights that the group was considering a “significant” project to expand capacity at its Fagersta site.
Fagersta Stainless generates approximately Eur160 million in turnover and employs about 250 people. Marcegaglia acquired Fagersta in 2023 as part of its purchase of the stainless steel products division of Outokumpu.
Platts, part Commodity Insights, assessed European 18-8 stainless steel scrap solids at Eur1,1170/mt on Nov. 1 on a CIF Rotterdam basis, stable on the day and up Eur10 on the week.
The 18-8 stainless steel scrap clips and solids are a commonly used reference for the grade-304 stainless steel scrap. The scrap contains a minimum of 16% chrome content and minimum of 7% nickel content.
Stegra receives €100m from Industrial Leap Fund
Swedish greenfield venture Stegra, formerly known as H2 Green Steel, has been granted about €100 million ($111m) from Sweden’s Industrial Leap Fund for its establishment of a near-zero-emission mill.
In 2018, Sweden introduced a national climate law and implemented an “Industrial Leap Fund”, as a means to support the commercialisation of innovation in the industry, Kallanish learns.
Stegra points out that the financial grant helps to better balance the playing field, in relation to steel companies in Europe that have received large support packages. “This creates the prerequisites for us to build up a long-term sustainable and competitive industry in Sweden,” says Stegra chief executive Henrik Henriksson.
Stegra adds that its climate calculations are based on CINEA’s methodology. CINEA is the European Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Executive Agency – the European Commission agency which manages decarbonisation and sustainable growth. The calculations have been verified by an external expert, DNV, and all input data has been validated by independent auditor PWC, Stegra notes.
Christian Koehl Germany
Sweden’s H2 Green Steel rebrands as Stegra, eyes projects in Portugal, Canada, Brazil
H2 Green Steel, the startup targeting to produce steel with up to 95% less CO2 emissions in Boden, Sweden, said Sept. 12 it is also looking at projects outside the country while announcing a rebranding to Stegra.
Stegra will explore the potential for growth over the long term, leveraging its experience at the Boden plant, it said in the press release.
“Stegra has a solid funnel of potential projects outside of Sweden that are being explored as part of a longer-term outlook,” the company said.
Projects are characterized by locations where the company’s customers need help with value-chain decarbonization and those that offer abundant access to renewable power and strong grid connections. The locations under consideration include Portugal, Canada and Brazil.
“Presently, a project in Portugal, where the site selection has been made and land reserved near Sines, is the most advanced. Notification on substantial allocation of the power needed has been made to Stegra and our local value chain partnerships continue to evolve,” said CEO Henrik Henriksson.
H2 Green Steel was launched in 2021 to reduce emissions in the steel industry within an ambitious timeline and it is Europe’s first greenfield mill in 50 years, set to produce low-carbon steel in a fully integrated production process, using electricity from renewable sources and green hydrogen.
H2 Green Steel’s project includes a giga-scale green hydrogen plant as an integrated part of the steel production facility. Use of hydrogen rather than coal in the production represents one of the main routes for the industry to reduce its CO2 emissions, with H2 Green Steel pioneering the technology in Europe. The facility will produce the green hydrogen necessary to make green iron and plans to supply 5 million metric tons of high-quality green steel to the market by 2030.
A Stegra spokesperson told S&P Global Commodity Insights that timeline for the Boden mill remains with the company that has started to put roofs on buildings in August and during summer received the first production equipment.
“We are building the railway on the site that will connect to the public railway. Presently we are around 1,000 construction workers on site and this will grow exponentially over the coming months,” she said.
Having secured funding of Eur6.5 billion for its venture, the company is one of the most watched energy transition startups as the steel industry is responsible for around 5% of CO2 emissions in the EU and 7% globally. The sector needs to develop and commercialize new low-CO2 technologies within the next 5-10 years to be in line with the EU’s climate targets.
Platts carbon-accounted steel assessments
Following market trend and recent technology innovations, Platts, part of Commodity Insights, launched Sept. 11 the first ever carbon-accounted rebar and medium sections assessments, after having launched in May 2023 the world’s first carbon-accounted flat steel assessment for HRC.
Platts assessed Northwest European carbon-accounted hot-rolled coil at Eur660 per metric ton ex-works Ruhr Sept. 11, stable on the day. Platts assessed Northwest European carbon-accounted rebar at Eur685/t EXW Northwest Europe on Sept. 11, Commodity Insights data showed.
Tradable values for the premium were reported at Eur30-40/t for CO2e content around 0.1-0.2 metric ton, and at Eur30-180/t for CO2e content around 0.1-0.5 metric ton, both under scopes 1-2.
Platts assessed European carbon-accounted medium sections at Eur882.50/t DDP Europe on Sept. 11. Tradable values for the premium were reported at Eur80/t for CO2e content around 0.1-0.2 metric ton, and at Eur30-180/t for CO2e content around 0-0.5 metric ton, both under scopes 1-2, according to data from Commodity Insights.
Hybrit initiative presents final report
Sweden’s Hybrit initiative will present the results of six years of research into fossil-free direct reduced iron-making technology in a final report to the Swedish Energy Agency, Kallanish learns from SSAB, a partner in the project.
Hybrit is a collaboration between SSAB, mining company LKAB and energy company Vattenfall, which have received several patents based on the results. The project is now continuing in the next phase where the process is to be implemented on an industrial scale.
The pilot phase resulted in the development of a new hydrogen-based technology for efficient fossil-free iron and steel production with 0.0 tonnes of CO2 emissions per tonne of steel. It also developed a new fossil-free iron product – sponge iron – that has significantly better properties than iron reduced with fossil gases such as natural gas. It also produced an efficient process practice for melting fossil-free sponge iron into crude steel in an electric arc furnace.
The project is the first in the world to demonstrate that the fossil-free value chain – from iron ore to steel – works on a semi-industrial scale. So far, more than 5,000 tonnes of hydrogen-reduced iron have been produced at the pilot plant in Luleå. Customers such as Volvo, Epiroc, Peab and many more are already using the fossil-free steel in vehicles, heavy machinery, buildings and consumer products.
Christian Koehl Germany
Swedish steel output falls further on-year
Sweden’s crude steel production decreased in June compared to the same month last year, and over the corresponding half-year periods, Kallanish learns from the country’s steel federation Jernkontoret.
In June, 356,000 tonnes of crude steel were produced in Sweden, which is 2.6% less compared to June 2023. During the first half of the year, a total of 2.18 million tonnes of crude steel were produced by Swedish mills. This is a decrease of 3.8% compared to the same period last year, the association notes.
Output in the first six months of 2023 was already 4.5% less than in the first half of 2022. A gentle uptrend occurred this year in March and April, which showed some increase year-on-year.
The production statistics are compiled by Jernkontoret and are based on data from eleven crude steel manufacturing plants in Sweden.
Christian Koehl Germany
Swedish SSAB chooses Danieli to build new Lulea mill
Swedish steelmaker SSAB has awarded Italian steel plant maker Danieli to build a new mill in Lulea, northern Sweden, the two companies said July 15.
The plant will have a capacity of 2.5 million mt/year and consist of two electric arc furnaces, a secondary metallurgy facility and a direct strip-rolling mill to produce SSAB’s specialty products, along with a cold rolling complex.
The new mill will be supplied with a mix of fossil-free sponge iron from the Hybrit demonstration plant in Gallivare and recycled scrap.
The overall selected configuration of Danieli technology will allow SSAB to produce a wide range of hot-rolled strip in coil-to-coil and semi-endless modes, resulting in a product portfolio expansion incorporating a fully electric tunnel furnace to ensure a minimum carbon footprint, the press release said.
The startup of the new mill is planned for the end of 2028, with full operating capacity one year later with environmental permits that are expected at the end of 2024.
When completed, SSAB will decommission the existing blast furnace-based production system in Lulea and this will reduce Sweden’s CO2 emissions by 7% in addition to the 3% from the other company’s mill conversion in Oxelosund.
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed Northwest European hot-rolled carbon-accounted coil stable on the day at Eur750/mt ($818/mt) ex-works Ruhr July 12.
Annalisa Villa
