Global usage of electric-arc furnaces (EAF) by steelmakers was up 12% in 2018, largely due to China's ongoing drive to increase the quantity of ferrous scrap charged into blast furnaces (BF) to reduce pollution, statistics released by the Bureau of International Recycling this week at its 2019 World Recycling Convention & Exhibition in Singapore showed.
EAFs accounted for 524 million tonnes of crude steel production in 2018, up from 468 million tonnes in 2017, BIR Ferrous Division's statistics advisor Rolf Willeke said.China was the primary driver of the rise in EAF-based steelmaking, increasing its consumption of ferrous scrap by 27% to 187.8 million tonnes in 2018 from 147.9 million tonnes in 2017.It increased...