Hyundai confirms Louisiana as EAF mill site

Hyundai Steel Co. has revealed that the steel mill it plans to build in the United States, announced at a White House press event earlier this week, will be an electric arc furnace (EAF) facility located in Louisiana capable of producing 2.7 million metric tons of steel annually.

While that could provide good news for recycled steel processors, the South Korean company indicates its investment also will include a direct-reduced iron (DRI) production component.

A March 25 news release issued by Hyundai disclosing details about the mill does not mention “recycling” or “scrap.”

Hyundai Steel is putting a $5.8 billion price tag on the steel mill and DRI complex and says the operating methods installed will reinforce its “commitment to sustainable steel production.”

The initial timeline indicates that by 2029, the mill will produce at a commercial scale high-grade automotive steel.

Hyundai Steel says it is actively pursuing a joint investment initiative with Hyundai Motor Group to ensure stable capital deployment and reinforce the competitiveness of its U.S. business while also evaluating equity investment opportunities with strategic partners.

“Hyundai Steel’s investment in an EAF-based integrated steel mill in the U.S. is anticipated to stimulate local economic growth, including the creation of new job opportunities,” Hyundai Steel President and CEO Seo Gang-Hyun says, noting the mill could employ about 1,300 people.

“We plan to supply automotive steel plates not only for Hyundai Motor and Kia’s strategic models but also to expand sales to U.S. automakers in the future,” Gang-Hyn adds.

Regarding its location within Louisiana, Hyundai Steel says it is seeking a site that will be near Hyundai Motor Co.’s Montgomery, Alabama, site and Kia's West Point, Georgia, site as well as the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) facility near Savannah, Georgia.

Beyond supplying its own Southern U.S. facilities, Hyundai Steel says it also will target markets in Latin America and Europe, in part by collaborating with “global automotive partners and investors to continuously enhance innovations in research, development and production.”

The firm says the Louisiana investment could be the first of several in EAF technology, which typically can accept a high double-digit amount of recycled steel feedstock.

“Following successful operations at its Louisiana mill, Hyundai Steel will adopt the EAF-based integrated steel mill system at its plants in South Korea, moving toward the integration of a carbon-neutral production system,” the company says.

Hyundai Steel is not a newcomer to EAF technology, having more than 70 years of experience in operating EAFs and having produced some 1 million metric tons of automotive steel using EAF technology from 2007-10 alone.

The mill’s distant timeline is unlikely to have an immediate impact on how current EAF companies remark on White House tariff policies and the result of attracting a new competitor into their market.

The announcement occurs shortly after the Trump administration indicated that one of the goals of the 25 percent tariff on inbound steel is to raise the capacity rate of the existing domestic sector to at least 80 percent from its current rate of about 75 percent.