Business
The green steel firms looking to revive US steel making
Chris BaraniukTechnology Reporter
Boston MetalAn activity centre for babies and toddlers, an Indian restaurant, an indoor golf centre – and a mini experimental steel plant. These businesses are among those that make up a small retail and industrial estate in the city of Woburn, Massachusetts.
“People are dropping off their kids. That kind of shows you an extreme example of what the future of steel looks like,” says Adam Rauwerdink, vice president of business development at US-based green steel start-up, Boston Metal. “You can be making steel and sharing a parking lot with a daycare.”
Boston Metal has come up with a way of using electricity to remove oxides and other contaminants from iron ore, which is the substance you have to mine from the Earth before you can make new steel.
The process involves distributing the ore within an electrolyte and then using electricity to heat this mixture to 1,600C. Molten iron then separates from impurities and can be tapped off.
Traditionally, extracting that all-important iron from ores requires blast furnaces that run on fossil fuels. But the iron and steel industry are responsible for 11% of global emissions – a huge amount, equivalent to all the world’s private cars and vans – and so now a race is on to find greener ways of producing these important metals.
US companies are, arguably, at the forefront. Steelmaking in the US is already greener than in many countries, thanks to the popularity of electric arc furnaces there. These furnaces use electricity, not heat from burning fossil fuels, to melt scrap steel – for example – and recycle it.
Plus, a handful of emerging start-ups such as Boston Metal say they can go one better and use electricity for the iron-making process, a crucial step in making brand new, or virgin, steel.
However, the Trump administration has taken a less than enthusiastic stance towards renewable energy and decarbonisation projects. It remains to be seen whether these new start-ups will make a big, molten splash in the steel industry any time soon.
Switching from traditional blast furnaces to electric arc furnaces can lower carbon emissions per tonne of steel produced from 2.32 tonnes of CO2 to 0.67 tonnes of CO2.
For iron-making, some plants could use green hydrogen – made using electricity from 100% renewable sources – says Simon Nicholas, lead steel analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
But switching iron and steel-making plants over to green hydrogen hasn’t gone as smoothly as some had expected.
In June, Cleveland-Cliffs, a major US steel producer, appeared to back away from its plans to build a $500m (£375m) hydrogen-powered steel plant in Ohio. The BBC has contacted Cleveland-Cliffs for comment.
“We’re seeing projects cancelled, proponents pulling out of projects all over the place,” says Mr Nicholas, of green hydrogen initiatives, specifically.
Bloomberg via Getty ImagesPlus, there is a limit to how much steel-making can rely on electric arc furnaces since they currently largely rely on a supply of scrap steel.
A relatively low supply of scrap steel in China, versus demand, has slowed the rollout of electric arc furnaces there, according to some analyses.
These headaches would suggest that there is a niche for companies developing alternative ways of making iron and steel. Boston Metal is one.
“It looks a lot like how we make iron and steel today – it’s a lot easier to conceive how that would get to scale [as a result],” says Paul Kempler, an expert in electrochemistry and electrochemical engineering at the University of Oregon.
However, he notes that there are still challenges in ensuring that electrolysis systems like this don’t corrode too quickly over time. Boston Metal says it hopes to have its first demonstration-scale steel plant operational by 2028.
ElectraSeparately, the US firm Electra is taking a different approach to producing highly purified iron from ores. Unlike Boston Metal, Electra’s process runs at a relatively low temperature, around 60-100C. First, iron ore is dissolved into an acidic solution and then an electrical charge causes the iron to collect onto metal plates. This is similar to the process currently used for making sheets of copper and zinc today.
“These plates are extracted automatically out of the solution and the iron is harvested,” says Sandeep Nijhawan, co-founder and chief executive. A demonstration plant in Colorado, which could produce 500 tonnes of iron annually, is currently set to open next year.
Initially, iron produced in this manner would cost more than iron made using traditional techniques. But that “green premium” could fall away should the company be able to scale sufficiently, says Mr Nijhawan.
Bloomberg via Getty ImagesMr Nicholas says that emerging technologies such as this are hopeful, but one challenge they face is in breaking into the market in a big way within just a few years, since the need to slash emissions and curb climate change is become more and more urgent: “We’re running short of time for addressing carbon emissions.”
Companies such as Electra and Boston Metal offer a completely different vision of the steel-making industry but they won’t get far without further investment – and a market that appreciates what they are doing.
President Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel imports to the US are supposedly designed to protect the domestic steel industry – and yet they risk raising the cost of steel substantially for US customers.
I ask whether Dr Rauwerdink, for one, is happy to see this move, or not. “We’re quite happy to see the strong focus on critical metals,” he says, arguing the tariffs are “beneficial” for Boston Metal.
Though he acknowledges that US government’s attitude towards renewable electricity, which Boston Metal says it want to prioritise as an energy source, has changed lately. And, globally, keeping the cost of renewable energy low is important for any firm hoping to electrify industries previously dominated by fossil fuels.
“The industry has growing pains there, for sure,” he says.
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Hair oil, ACs, soaps become costlier: How FMCG companies are dealing with Middle East supply blow – The Times of India
Consumer goods companies in India are facing a sharp rise in input costs due to the ongoing war in the Middle East. Surging raw material prices are forcing firms to track costs on a near-daily basis, review pricing frequently, and focus on short-term decisions instead of long-term planning.As firms are struggling with volatile input costs, company executives have told ET that the sudden spike in inflation has made it harder to manage business, while also raising concerns that higher prices could hurt consumer demand. This comes at a time when consumption had started improving after the government reduced goods and services tax rates on several products last September.Havells India chief executive officer Anil Rai Gupta was cited by the financial agency as saying that the company is taking a cautious approach and reviewing the situation month by month. “I have not seen this kind of price escalation in the recent past or in recent memory. Usually, inflation happens, but it is neither so steep nor spread across all product categories… consumer offtake can get affected if the price hike is too sharp.” Bajaj Consumer Care managing director Naveen Pandey said the company is closely tracking input costs and taking decisions almost daily. Speaking during the company’s earnings call last week, he said costs across the business have gone up between 20% and 60%. He added that the war has created “extreme volatility” in the prices of light liquid paraffin and packaging materials. At the same time, prices of mustard and copra have not fallen as expected and are still at pre-war levels. The company is working on cutting costs across its operations.Industry executives said the war has pushed up commodity prices and crude-linked products, increased freight costs, and made imports more expensive due to the fall in rupee. They added that even after a ceasefire, prices have not come down, and uncertainty remains over whether the conflict could start again.In the past month, companies have already raised prices in several categories, including air-conditioners, refrigerators, soaps, detergents, hair oil, apparel, decorative paints and footwear. Some companies have also reduced pack sizes to deal with higher costs. More price hikes are expected by the end of this month.Parle Products vice president Mayank Shah said the pressure on input costs is very high and the uncertainty is “killing”.Retailers are also seeing more careful spending. Trent Ltd, which runs Westside and Zudio stores, said in an investor presentation that while demand was steady at the start of the January–March quarter, the current situation is affecting consumer behaviour.“Consumers are spending with caution, resulting in moderation of discretionary spending on the back of continuing macro uncertainties and potential increase in cost of living. Structurally the demand levels and the underlying market opportunities remain strong. However, the duration and intensity of disruptions in the Middle East along with its second order effect on supply chain, commodity prices and inflation in general has potential implications for near term demand,” the company said.AWL Agri Business executive deputy chairman Angshu Mallick said the company has already increased edible oil prices by Rs 7–10 per kg to pass on higher freight costs. “Being a staples company, we hike or reduce prices immediately. As we are in basic necessities, the volume impact is usually lower,” he said.Meanwhile, the Middle East conflict is inching closer towards the two month mark. The conflict began back on February 28, when the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran. In retaliation, Tehran choked the crucial Strait of Hormuz, a pipeline that carries 20% of global energy supplies, straining flow across the globe.
UK retail sales returned to growth last month as they were pushed higher by motorists stocking up on fuel as prices shot higher because of the Iran war, according to official figures.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the total volume of retail sales, which measures the quantity bought, rose by 0.7% in March.
It compared with a 0.6% fall in February, which was revised slightly lower.
The latest reading was also stronger than expected, with economists having predicted a 0.1% dip for the month.
Statisticians said March’s increase was particularly driven by a spike in demand for fuel, which saw sales volumes jump by 6.1% for the month, the highest level since April 2021.
They indicated that this was especially linked to a short period, of less than a week, of particularly elevated sales as unfolding geopolitical events in the Middle East caused a significant rise in prices at the pump.
The value of sales, the amount of money spent, for fuel was up 11.6% amid the jump in petrol and diesel prices.
Recent data from the RAC shows that petrol prices have risen by 18.5% to 157.34 pence per litre, as recorded on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, diesel is up 33.4% to an average of 189.88 pence per litre.
Elsewhere, clothing stores also had a strong month, with sales volumes across the category rising by 1.2% in March amid a boost from better weather conditions.
Technology retailers also saw sales grow after they benefited from new products launches.
However, food sales were weaker, slipping by 0.8% for the month.
The ONS said overall retail sales volumes are up 1.6% for the first three months of 2026, as the industry was also supported by positive growth in January.
ONS senior statistician Hannah Finselbach said: “Retail sales rose in the three months to March, with commercial art galleries doing well earlier in the quarter and sales in beauty products stores rising as retailers reported launching new collections.
“Motor fuel sales were up on the quarter, with retailers commenting that many motorists had been filling up their tanks in March following the start of conflict in the Middle East.”
Elliott Jordan-Doak, senior UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: “The first batch of hard data on consumers’ spending since the start of the Iran war was better than expected.
“Granted, stocking up on motor fuels drove headline sales higher, but even excluding petrol retail sales volumes nudged up showing that households largely brushed off the initial shock of higher energy prices.”
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