Electric arc furnace (EAF) production in South Korea fell sharply by 8.2pc to 20.1mn mt in 2020 compared to 22.7mn mt a year ago, according to the Korea Iron & Steel Association.
The East Asian country’s crude steel production decreased by 6pc to 67.1mn mt in 2020 against 71.4mn in 2019, the association indicated. Of the total production, the output from blast oven furnaces (BOF) declined by 5pc to 46.3mn in 2020 against 48.7mn mt a year ago. Production from BOFs comprised 70pc of the total output while the balance 30pc came from EAFs.
South Korea hit the highest level of crude steel production at 72.5mn mt in the past five years in 2018. BOF hit the highest production at 48.7mn mt in 2019 in the past five years, but EAF production peaked in 2018 at 24.2mn mt when it comprised 33.4pc of total crude steel output.