Italian steelmaker Marcegaglia, is investing £50m to build a new electric arc furnace to upgrade its existing site in Sheffield, UK prime minister Keir Starmer has announced.

The new EAF will increase annual plant productivity to over 500,000 tonnes of stainless steel products, bringing efficiency and environmental improvements, and creating 50 new jobs, according to media reports.

The existing EAF has been in place since 1977, producing stainless steel by recycling scrap steel. The new operation will be in implementation phase during mid-2026, with technology supplied by Primetals Technologies. Marcegaglia Stainless Sheffield produces semi-finished stainless steel, including billets, blooms and slabs, as well as stainless downstream wire rod and bar products.

“The announced investments are evidence of Marcegaglia’s willingness and ability to invest to grow the UK business, which is beneficial also to Marcegaglia Italy to reduce the carbon footprint of the whole group by insourcing primary steelmaking for stainless steel.”

Emma Marcegaglia, chair and CEO, Marcegaglia

Emma Marcegaglia, chair and CEO of Marcegaglia, commented: “The announced investments are evidence of Marcegaglia’s willingness and ability to invest to grow the UK business, which is beneficial also to Marcegaglia Italy to reduce the carbon footprint of the whole group by insourcing primary steelmaking for stainless steel.”

“The investment by Marcegaglia Stainless Sheffield to renew its electric arc furnace delivers yet more highly positive news for the UK steel industry.''

Gareth Stace, director general, UK Steel

UK Steel director general, Gareth Stace, added: “The investment by Marcegaglia Stainless Sheffield to renew its electric arc furnace delivers yet more highly positive news for the UK steel industry. Coupled with the investment agreement for Tata Steel’s Port Talbot site last week, this brings a much-needed injection of funds into the UK steel sector, which will transition it into a more efficient and decarbonised industry. All that’s needed now to make these investments count is for the Government to deliver the competitive business landscape and level playing field that our steelmakers need for a bright future. A good start to address competitiveness is to increase compensation from network charges on electricity to 90%, up from 60%.”

Source: Production Engineering Solutions