Voestalpine Signs Another Customer for its Texas HBI
04/04/2016 - Voestalpine has found another taker for the hot briquetted iron it will be producing at its new direct reduction plant in Texas.
In a statement, voestalpine said Mexico's TYASA has contracted for "several hundred thousand tons" of HBI over the next "several" years.
The plant, near Corpus Christi, is to begin production this summer, but voestalpine already has begun running some initial tests, it said.
Voestalpine expects to produce 2 million tons per years, with 40 percent of the output destined for its Austrian furnaces. The remainder is to be sold on the open market.
With the TYASA contract, approximately 80 percent of that free volume -- 960,000 tons -- has been spoken for.
"Market demand for voestalpine HBI remains high," the company said in a statement.
TYASA signed the contract in support of plans to expand its product portfolio -- it intends to begin making high-quality flat steels requiring ore-based raw materials.
“We can achieve a jump in production quality by using voestalpine HBI in the modern electric arc furnaces at the site in Orizaba (Mexico). We also reduce our dependence on Mexico’s volatile scrap market and imports of scrap from the USA,” said TYASA chief executive Oscar Chahin Trueba in a statement.
