Every manufacturing business normally depends on supplies of steel products for their business needs. For example, suppliers provide items under a number of categories including structural steel, merchant bar, steer pipe, steel plate, rural steel products, and building items.
Types of Steel Products
Structural steel products include beams and columns that are welded, universal beams and columns, and angles and channels. Merchant bar steel items includes billets, flats, angles, rounds, and channels whilst steel pipe is made for tubing and pipes in various configurations. Rural steel products include cattle rails, fence posts, purlins, gates, and wires whilst building products may include fencing or steel roofing.
Needless to say, steel serves as a backbone of any economic system. Plus, the use and consumption of the metal reflect decisively on the country’s economic wellness. Steel is a major metal because it is regularly used. Not only is it used in automobiles but it is included in bridges and homes. Without steel, our lives would be far different.
Steelmaking in the World Today
About 3,500 types of steel exist in the world. Each category features a different protocol, chemical mix, use, and shape. The main types include flats, longs, pipes, and tubes. Flats make up plates and sheets and account for just under half of all global shipments whilst longs are made up of rebars, bars, wire rods, structural steel, and rails. Longs account for about half of the international shipments as well. According to statistics, pipe-shaped steel pieces account for about eight percent of the steel used in the world.
The Two Major Methods Used for Producing Steel
Steel suppliers receive steel components that are made of such raw materials as iron ore, scrap, and coal. This intensive business features two primary processes for the production of steel.
Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) Processing
One process entails the use of a basic oxygen furnace or BOF. This process employs old steel to create new steel. On average, BOF processing uses about 1,400 kilograms of iron ore, 150 kilograms of limestone, 770 kilograms of coal, and 120 kilograms of steel that has been recycled to create new steel. Because the process mainly uses iron ore, the cost of the ore must be factored into the cost of production.
Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) Processing
Another process known as an electric arc furnace (EAF) process uses scrap steel for production purposes. In order to produce a tonne of steel, 880 kilograms of recycled materials along with 43 kilograms of limestone and 150 kilograms of coal are used. Because this production method uses scrap steel, the cost of the scrap steel determines the production expense.
Because steel is supplied to a variety of industries, its demand globally is based on the overall economic activity. Steel is used primarily in the transportation and construction sectors as well as, to a far lesser extent, in the manufacture of home appliances, defence equipment, and machinery.
Needless to say, the growth rate of business and the economy drives the need for steel. Therefore, working with a steel supplier that offers the highest in quality products contributes to the stability and influence of steel in the global business market.