I have read that primary steel mills in the USA are in trouble-they cannot compete with syeel made in China, india, etc. However, the USA has a very competitive steel industry-the so-called “mini mills”. These are companies that basically remelt scrap steel, and recast it into beams, rails, sheet, etc. They are profitable and competitive. my question: does the USA have enough scrap steel lying around, such that we don’t have to actually make new steel? take old bridges, cars, other junk-could we go without mining iron ore and making steel out of it? or just “mine” the junkyards of the USA forever?
Not as far as I am aware. However, a chunk of steel demand can be met using minimill-recycled scrap. For specific grades of steel that are better made from scratch, there’s still a need for old-style integrated mills, and some of their product will eventually end up with the minimills as scrap. Also, as the relative prices of scrap steel and iron ore/coke swing back and forth, you’d expect to see changes in the market presence of minimills versus integrated producers.
I don’t have any idea of the tonnage BUT we import a large quantity of steel every year.
Don’t need to produce it by smelting ore.
We import autos and wreckem as fast as we can. :rolleyes:
We have scrap automobiles all over the place to feed the mini-mills! :smack: