Minimills will soon produce over 50 percent of world steel output. Consequently, this production route via the EAF will change the steel industry's metallics balance, and this will remain a problem to face in terms of quality and cost. Gas-based direct reduction plants are probably bound to increase and may be proposing a better product than HBI:Be briquetting freeHave a carbon content from 2 to 3.5 percent.Minimills will gradually evolver, for part of their production, towards endless rolling. Flexible minimills will emerge widening the product range to better serve regional market demands, while enjoying reductions in transportation costs and lead time. Minimills will progressively produce all steel grades for flat products too. There will be a new generation of minimills for semifinished products (slabs, blooms, billets), as a result of specific locations offering competitive iron ore ad energy availability. There will be a new generation of minimills to produce both long and flat products if the strip caster is successful. Thanks to this continuous evolution, the future for the minimill concept is fully assured. It will continue the success that allowed this concept to produce steel, to gain new market segments both in areas and products, so that this technology will consequently account for more than half the steel produced world wide.
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