Japanese steelmaker JFE Steel has announced that it has received government funding for its green transformation project at its West Japan Works. In November, JFE Steel, along with Nippon Steel, applied for funding under Japan’s “Green Transformation Promotion Act” to support their decarbonization efforts.
JFE Steel will invest JPY 324.9 billion ($2.07 billion) in the project, with the government providing JPY 104.5 billion ($665.26 million). The investment will be used to build an advanced electric arc furnace (EAF) with a production capacity of around 2 million metric tons per year. This new EAF will feature state-of-the-art technologies, including high-quality and efficient melting technology, and will use direct reduced iron (DRI).
The new EAF will be the world’s largest, capable of mass-producing high-quality and high-performance steel products such as electrical steel sheets and high-tensile steel sheets, which current large EAFs cannot produce. The EAF is expected to begin operations in the first quarter of the financial year 2028-29.
