Challenges facing the development of electric furnace steelmaking

1. The cost competitiveness of electric furnace steelmaking is not strong.

Since 2000, the proportion of my country's electric furnace steel output has fallen from the highest 17.6% in 2003 to 6.1% in 2015, and the development speed is obviously lagging behind that of converter steelmaking. The biggest challenge encountered in the development of electric furnace steelmaking is that its cost competitiveness is weaker than that of converter steelmaking. At present, the cost of electric furnace steelmaking is 10% to 30% higher than that of converter steelmaking. There are many factors that affect the cost of electric furnace steelmaking, and energy and resource consumption are the most critical factors.

On the one hand, the supply of domestic scrap steel resources has been tight for a long time, scrap steel prices and rebar prices are upside down, and the cost of using scrap steel is relatively high; on the other hand, my country’s industrial electricity prices are relatively high, and preferential electricity price subsidies are difficult to support cost competitiveness. As a result, the proportion of water for steelmaking in my country's electric furnaces continues to increase, and the trend of electric furnace conversion is obvious.

2. The market competitiveness of electric furnace steelmaking is insufficient.

From a global perspective, different countries have different degrees of industrialization and different development backgrounds in the steel industry, leading to different levels of competitiveness of electric furnace steel. The development of electric furnace steel in the United States, Europe, India and other places is in a relatively good period. Among them, the output of electric furnace steel in the United States has exceeded 60%, and the products are mainly ordinary steel.

In my country, electric furnace steel products are mainly special steel. With the advancement of out-of-furnace refining technology, the production capacity of converter steels has gradually increased, which has led to a continuous decline in the market competitiveness of electric furnace steelmaking in the field of special steel.

At present, domestic traditional special steel products such as bearing steel, gear steel and stainless steel are basically based on converter steel. The production advantages of electric furnace steelmaking varieties have been compressed to the limited production of high alloy steel, and its market competitiveness is obviously insufficient.

3. Insufficient policy support for electric furnace steel.

The rapid development of the world's electric furnace steel is inseparable from the support of the supporting policies of various governments.

For example, the United States and Europe have gradually increased the requirements for energy conservation and emission reduction policies in the iron and steel industry. The government supports the development of shale gas, the research and development of new energy and new processes such as thin slab continuous casting and rolling and thin strip casting and rolling, which are objectively developmental. Electric furnace steel has created conditions; the rapid development of electric furnace steel in countries such as Turkey and Iran in the Middle East is also inseparable from the government's strong support for scrap steel resources and energy supporting policies.

At present, my country has paid more and more attention to the sustainable development and green development of the steel industry. However, the development of short-process electric furnace steelmaking lacks substantial support for specific support measures such as capacity replacement project approval, resources and energy support, and the energy saving and environmental protection advantages of electric furnace steel are transformed. The effect of market competitive advantage is not obvious.