DUSSELDORF, Sept 12 (Askume) – Thyssenkrupp steel unit TKAG.DE said on Thursday it plans to build a direct-cutting site to produce carbon-free steel, a project that so far would cost about 3 billion euros (about 3.3 billion U.S. dollars).
ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe (TKSE), the steel arm of ThyssenKrupp in which Czech billionaire Daniel Kratinski has a 20% stake, said it now expects the plant to start operating in 2027.
TKSE said its management board had informed parent company Thyssenkrupp AG about “the potential risks of building a direct reduction plant at the Duisburg site and the resulting potential cost increase”.
The comments came as Thyssenkrupp AG’s supervisory board held a scheduled meeting, its first since the resignation of TKSE’s leadership in late August, amid what is seen as a growing crisis for the German industrial icon.
Under current plans, two-thirds of the plant’s financing would come from the public — the German government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where ThyssenKrupp is headquartered — while the company would finance the remainder itself.
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