Cleveland-Cliffs, a major US iron and steelmaker, is putting extra charges on its steel made from gas-fired hot-briquetted iron, with future plans to use hydrogen to decarbonize production.
The steelmaker is using natural gas to make hot-briquetted iron at its Ohio site. This, according to Cleveland-Cliffs, makes their steel production emit lower carbon emissions compared to the traditional process that uses coal and is why the company has said that its steel products deserve the surcharge.
Lourenco Goncalves, Cleveland-Cliffs CEO, said that they’ve recently applied a surcharge referred to as ‘Cliffs H’ into their clients’ invoices, which charges customers an additional $40/ton applied to every short ton of steel made with HBI.
“We deserve to be paid for a characteristic of our steel that truly differentiates us, particularly when compared to other major suppliers of steel to the automotive industry in the United States.”
Lourenco Goncalves, Cleveland-Cliffs CEO
Commenting on the surcharge, Goncalves said: “We deserve to be paid for a characteristic of our steel that truly differentiates us, particularly when compared to other major suppliers of steel to the automotive industry in the United States.”
According to Goncalves, the additional cost is minimal, which he compared to increasing the retail price of a car by 0.1%. The CEO added that Cleveland-Cliff’s next ambition is to decarbonize production via the hydrogen route.
Source: Carbon Credits