Electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaker Nucor is increasingly relying more on shredded scrap as it finds ways to lessen its reliance on iron metallics and prime scrap.
The scrap-based steelmaker's chief executive Leon Topalian told Argus in an exclusive interview today the invasion of Ukraine by Russia fast forwarded his company's switch from foreign pig iron supplies and a higher prime scrap mix to relying more on shredded scrap material in Nucor's melts.
"It's a terrible way to have to pivot, but that's what we did and we'll continue to reshape that [scrap mix]," Topalian said on the sidelines of the Global Steel Dynamics Forum in New York.
"The sustainable side was going to drive us too," he said. "Pig iron is made by [integrated mills], its not low embodied carbon."
Nucor's pig iron share has fallen from 10pc to 5-6pc of the company's melt mix, with its direct reduced iron (DRI) plants in Louisiana and Trinidad and Tobago filling in part of the gap.
The company has reduced its prime scrap mix into the low-20pc range and Topalian said his company is using technologies to reduce the copper content in shredded scrap.
In a conference talk earlier today, Topalian pushed back on questioning by integrated steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs' chief executive Lourenco Goncalves, who said Monday that US steelmakers will face a scrap shortage as more EAF mills come on line.
"There's a lot of talk .. of scrap scarcity. It's a false narrative," Topalian said.
