Are Integrated Mills the Purest Way to Produce Steel?

black and white image of the steel mill to represent integrated mill

Integrated Mills

 

What is an integrated mill?

  • An integrated mill is capable of the entire steel production process, from the melting of raw materials all the way through processing a finished coil. Regarded as the traditional, purest way of making steel, integrated mills utilize a Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) to melt iron ore, coke, limestone, and scrap into molten steel. Once the raw materials are turned to molten steel, it is casted into slabs. From there, slabs are rolled into coils and finished. This typically means, a protective coating is added to the coils.

 

How do they affect the market?

  • Mills have a lot of influence when it comes to steel supply and lead times. Availability and price of materials such as iron ore, coke, and scrap can influence a mills fixed costs, and in turn their finished steel prices. Mill pricing can trickle down to other parts of the supply chain like service centers, manufactures, and end-users.

 

What should you do?

Watch the mills production schedules and lead times. Sometimes, mills will have to close production lines for both regularly scheduled and unexpected maintenance. This can delay lead times and might impact your inventory levels. Majestic’s CORE Report follows mills’ production and lead times; along with other indicators every week to see where the market stands.