Nakayama Steel, Nippon Steel in EAF lease deal

The drive to install large-sized electric-arc furnaces by steelmakers in Japan continues, following last Friday's joint announcement by long- and flat-steel producer Nakayama Steel Works and integrated giant Nippon Steel of a business alliance, the core of which will be a large EAF built inside Nakayama's Funamachi works in Osaka City.

The EAF won't be in production till 2030 at the earliest, but the pact between the two firms could create a precedent for similar agreements between other mills as the Japanese steel industry hollows out further in the years ahead, Mysteel Global notes. Under the basic agreement the two announced