South Korean steelmaker POSCO aims to reduce its dependence on imports of graphite electrodes for electric arc furnace steelmaking, as its sister company, Posco Future M, has succeeded in localizing electrode rod manufacturing technology, POSCO Holdings said Dec. 12.
Electrodes are high value-added carbon materials used in electric arc furnaces to melt iron scrap into molten iron, or in refining processes to remove impurities from molten iron produced in a blast furnace.
Currently, all electrode rods in South Korea are imported.
"The domestic steel industry has not been able to localize the electrode rod manufacturing technology, so it imports more than 30,000 mt of electrode rods every year from China, Japan, India, etc., and as a result, the material supply chain risk has been raised continuously," POSCO Holdings said.
The primary raw material for electrodes is needle coke, which can also be used to manufacture higher-grade graphite for lithium-ion batteries.
According to US-based global graphite electrode leader GrafTech, demand for high quality needle coke is expected to be driven by an ongoing shift in steelmaking to EAFs and demand for synthetic graphite anode material for use in electric vehicle batteries.
In 2023, South Korean crude steel production via the EAF route totaled 19.68 million mt, Korea Iron & Steel Association data showed, while conventional blast furnaces produced nearly 47 million mt.
POSCO consumed about 7.25 million mt of scrap in 2023, anticipating this to rise to 9.2 million mt by 2030, as it works to become a net-zero carbon emitter by 2050.
The higher demand comes as POSCO expects to complete the construction of a 2.5 million mt/year EAF at Gwangyang in 2025 and start it up in 2026 .
"In the future, POSCO Future M plans to review the commercialization of electrode rods in accordance with market conditions and plans to strengthen group-level cooperation with POSCO...to establish a low-carbon steelmaking process," Posco Holdings said.
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed the weekly H2 ferrous scrap price at Yen 43,400/mt ($286/mt) FOB Tokyo Bay Dec. 11, up Yen 900/mt from a week ago.
