INTERVIEW: Nippon Steel to Use Both Electric, Blast Furnaces

Tokyo, May 26 (Jiji Press)--Nippon Steel Corp. will use both electric and blast furnaces, Vice President Takahiro Mori said in a recent interview with Jiji Press.

Nippon Steel is considering introducing large electric furnaces at its steel mills in Fukuoka and Hyogo Prefectures in its effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

But Mori underscored the need to use blast furnaces as well, saying, "We won't see a world without blast furnaces even when society becomes more decarbonized."

He pointed out that once his company launches electric furnaces, it will be forced to engage in tough fights with Chinese, European and U.S. rivals over steel scrap to make products.

Mori also said that "unless fresh steel is produced" with blast furnaces, which make steel from iron ore, "sustainable economic growth can't be realized."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]