Regional effects of a green steel industry : Fuel substitution and feedstock competition

Forestry and forest industry sectors have vital roles for many regional economies. Consequently, it is important to understand how the introduction of the iron and steel industry (ISI) as a new large consumer of woody materials may affect existing feedstock markets. The use of metallurgical coal can...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research
Main Author: Olofsson, Elias
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Luleå tekniska universitet, Samhällsvetenskap 2019
Subjects:
Isi
Online Access:http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-71658
https://doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2018.1543445
Description
Summary:Forestry and forest industry sectors have vital roles for many regional economies. Consequently, it is important to understand how the introduction of the iron and steel industry (ISI) as a new large consumer of woody materials may affect existing feedstock markets. The use of metallurgical coal can partially or fully be substituted by refined biomass. To analyze the potential consequences of a new woody consumer on regional markets, three regions in northern Sweden and Finland are used as a case. A regional partial equilibrium model is developed, the Norrbotten County Forest Sector Model (NCFSM), and applied on three different scenarios. The purpose of the study is to analyze the intra- and inter-regional effects increased competition for woody materials may have on regional markets and on the economic well-being of the regions. The result suggest that the total welfare effect is relatively small, however, some regional welfare distributional effects are observed. Additionally, the price of roundwood will only be moderately affected if the ISI sector switch from fossil fuels to refined woody biomass. However, secondary woody materials, i.e. by-products and harvesting residues, will experience larger price shifts. Validerad;2018;Nivå 2;2018-11-21 (svasva)