Clean Coal Technology Program provides
funding to demonstrate new technologies
for the environmentally sound and
efficient use of coal.  The project,
proposed by Centerior Energy
Corporation, would demonstrate the
COREX direct ironmaking process,
developed by Deutsche Voest-Alpine
Industrieanlagenbau GMBH (DVAI,) and
the production of power from a combined
cycle powerplant fueled by the export gas
from the COREX process. Other
sponsors of the proposed project were the
LTV Steel Company, at whose plant the
demonstration project would be built;
DVAI; Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.;
and EPRI. The total estimated project
cost was $825 million, with DOE to
provide $150 million and the corporate
sponsors $675 million. The proposed
plant would produce 2,900 metric tons
per day of pig iron plus 150 megawatts of
electric power.
Production
Production of raw steel in the United
States increased 5.3%, to 88.8 million
metric tons, from 84.3 million tons
produced in 1992. Raw steel production
capability was estimated by AISI as 99.7
million tons, down from 102.6 million
tons in 1992.   Production in 1993
represented  89.1%   of   estimated
capability, compared with 82.2%  in
1991.
Net shipments of steel mill products by
U.S. companies increased about 8%, to
80.8 million tons, from 74.6 million tons
in 1992.
Electric arc furnace steelmaking was
utilized for 34.9 million tons, 39.4% of
total steelmaling in 1993. Basic oxygen
steelmaking was utilized for 53.8 million
tons, 60.6% of raw steel production,
compared with 52.3 million tons and
61.6 % of production in 1992.
The trend toward the use of continuous
casting continued. Continuous casting
production was 76.1 million tons, 85.7 %
of production, compared with 66.9
million tons, 79.3 % in 1992.


Consumption and Uses
Shipments of steel mill products by
U.S. companies were up 8.2%, to 80.8
million tons, but export shipments
continued to drop; exports were down
20% from those of 1992. Shipments to
domestic customers were up more than
9 %. Shipments to the largest single end-
use market-the automotivemarket-were
up 15 %, appliances were up 6 %, service
centers and distributors increased 11%,
and construction products rose about
10%.
Shipments of steel for containers,
packaging, and shipping materials
increased 10 %, reversing a two-year
decline in shipments to this market area.
Shipments for oil and gas drilling,
mining, quarrying, and lumbering were
about the same as the 1992 level, as were
shipments for industrial and agricultural
machinery, equipment, and tools.
Markets and Prices
Prices for steel mill products, which
had declined for 3‡h years, reached a
nadir in December 1992 and increased
steadily through 1993. On a year-to-year
average basis, the Bureau of Labor
Statistics' Producer Price Index for steel
mill products was up by only 2% in 1993
at 108.2 (1982 base= 100), but the
increase during the year, from the low of
105.1 in December 1992 through 111.1
in December 1993, was 5.7 %.
Additional price increases were
announced, effective in January 1994,
and the outlook was for further price
increases in 1994.
Foreign Trade
Exports of steel mill products declined
to 3.6 million tons, from 3.9 million tons
in 1992. Canada was again the nation
receiving the largest amount of U.S.
exported steel, 1.5 million tons, with
Mexico again in second place, receiving
0.9 million tons. Exports to Mexico
were down from 1.3 million tons in
1992; the decline in exports to Mexico
exceeded the overall decline in exports.


Imports of steel mill products
increased to 17.7 million tons from 15.5
million tons in 1992, an increase of about
14%.   Brazil, Canada, the European
Union (EU), and Japan were major
sources for steel mill product imports.
Increased imports from the EU accounted
for almost all of the year-to-year
increase. Imports from Japan and the
Republic of Korea actually decreased,
with imports from Japan dropping 33
percent to the lowest level in 30 years.
An important development in 1993 was
a marked increase in the tonnage of
imported semifinished steel. During the
period 1985 through 1992, imports of
semifinished steel had been about 2
million metric tons per year. This steel,
primarily in the form of slabs suitable for
rolling into sheet or plate mill products,
was imported and utilized mostly by
companies that lack their own
steelmaking facilities. In 1993, imports
of semifinished steel increased to 4.5
million tons, but almost all of the
increased tonnage is believed to have
been imported by companies within the
steel industry itself to supplement their
steelmaking capacity.  Excluding this
major increase in imports of semifinished
steel, steel mill product imports in 1993
were 13.2 million tons, slightly less than
in 1992.
The increase in imports of
semifinished steel by steel companies
must be taken into consideration in
evaluating total consumption of steel mill
products in the United States and the
share of the market represented by
imported steel. To avoid counting both
the imported semi-finished steel and the
products produced from it, it is necessary
to subtract from domestic consumption
the amount of semifinished steel
consumed by companies that also produce
raw steel.  For 1993, this amount is
estimated to have been 2.5 million tons.
For years prior to 1993, the amount was
less than 0.5 million tons per year.
Therefore, the share of the U.S. steel
market represented by imported steel was
19 % in 1993.


IRON AND STEEL-1993




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