Japan's Kobe Steel aims to sell 1 mln T of low-carbon steel in 2030

Kobe Steel

19/05/2022 11:06

TOKYO, May 19 (Reuters) - Japan's third-biggest steelmaker,
Kobe Steel Ltd  5406.T , aims to sell one million tonnes of
low-carbon steel a year in 2030 in concert with a global push
toward decarbonisation, its president said on Thursday. 
    Cutting carbon emissions from steelmaking, which accounts
for about 7-9% of global CO2 emissions, is a key effort to fight
climate change and the move comes as Kobe Steel aims to slash
its CO2 emissions from its production process by 30%-40% by 2030
from 2013 levels.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2MY19V
    "We want to boost our annual production and sales of
low-carbon steel to one million tonnes in around 2030," Kobe
Steel President Mitsugu Yamaguchi told reporters and analysts.
    "We are getting many queries from broad industries including
automobiles and construction," he said. He declined to say how
much of a price premium it plans to seek.
    Kobe Steel said last year that it had successfully
demonstrated a new technology to trim CO2 emissions from blast
furnace operations by a fifth, as compared to the conventional
approach.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2KM0EA
    The new method uses a combination of its blast furnace
operation technology and the direct reduction iron (DRI)
technology of its U.S. unit, Midrex Technologies.
    Charging a large amount of DRI in a briquette form into a
blast furnace could slash the required amount of carbon fuel,
such as coke, bringing about lower CO2 emissions.
    Kobe Steel, which produces about 6 million tonnes of crude
steel a year, plans to sell about 8,000 tonnes of low-carbon
steel this financial year to March 2023.
    The calculation method and results are certified by the DNV
Business Assurance services UK Ltd, a third-party certification
body, it said.

 (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Kim Coghill)
 ((Yuka.Obayashi@thomsonreuters.com; +813-4520-1265;))