SSAB’s official statement said that they are establishing new blast furnaces in Oxelösund, Sweden, with an electric arc furnace and associated raw material handling. The aim is for the new production system to be up and running toward the end of 2026.
The Oxelösund mill is said to be the first in the green transition of SSAB’s entire Nordic production system.
According to Thomas Hörnfeldt, Vice President of Sustainable Business at SSAB, the new furnace will enable the company to supply large volumes of SSAB Zero™, a steel product made from recycled materials and powered by fossil-free energy, to key European markets with significantly reduced lead times.
“The change in Oxelösund is great news not only for the environment but also for our customers. An electric arc furnace means we will be able to deliver large volumes of SSAB Zero™ to our main European markets with much shorter lead times than today. SSAB Zero™ is made using recycled steel and fossil-free energy – resulting in steel with virtually zero fossil carbon emissions,” explains Thomas Hörnfeldt, VP of Sustainable Business at SSAB.
SSAB Zero™ has already been made commercially available. The company says that the market demand pushed them to start the production of SSAB Zero™ back in 2023 at SSAB’s Iowa plant. However, having an electric arc furnace in Oxelösund will help the company to offer a much wider product portfolio than what exists.
The plans for Oxelösund are on the go with all the required permits as well as having secured sufficient amounts of fossil-free electricity.
“We have customers in many market areas and various industries. One typical customer group consists of large, listed companies with clear sustainability targets and strategy. Other customers make it their niche to be at the very forefront of the green transition, doing everything as sustainably as possible. And some of our customers choose to label part of their product portfolio as low-emission products,” Hörnfeldt explains.
“Since we will be using mostly recycled steel scrap as the raw material in Oxelösund, we will also be able to offer our customers “closed loop” solutions, where we utilize scrap from our customers’ production as a raw material and deliver our high-quality steel back to the same customer again,” Hörnfeldt adds.