Business and Financial News

OneSteel is seeking to reduce its use of coking coal in steel manufacturing, but says the sector is technologically constrained in its ability to reduce carbon emissions.

In steel making, there is no substitute for coking coal, which has specific properties needed for refining iron in blast furnaces.

Chairman Peter Smedley says there is no new technology available currently “or in the foreseeable future” that will allow OneSteel to materially reduce emissions.

“As a result, rather than to act as a price signal to reduce emissions, a carbon tax would merely be an additional cost burden that we would not be able to pass through to customers,” Mr Smedley told a business function in Adelaide on Friday.

With steel making being among the most emissions-intensive industries, OneSteel and competitor BlueScope will be scrutinising the fine print of the carbon tax when the federal government unveils the full details on Sunday.

While the steel industry had so far been strongly opposed to the carbon tax, OneSteel did not dispute the need for action to reduce global emissions, Mr Smedley said.

Access and dialogue with the federal government had been positive, and he believed the Commonwealth now understood the potential implications of the tax on the Australian steel industry’s competitive position.

Mr Smedley reiterated his concern about the cumulative impact of the new carbon tax and mining tax on the company.

OneSteel last year said the first version of the mining tax threatened to derail its operations in Whyalla and in Newcastle, NSW. Full Article…