Semi-finished metals are metals that are partly finished intermediate products. They are meant to be used in the production of other things. A final fully finished product is formed using them as an input. Therefore, the primary use of semi-finished metals is to be used as an intermediate part of any final product. Semi-finished goods, in this sense, are entirely different from consumer and capital goods. Consumer goods are fully finished final products meant to be used without further processing, whereas semi-finished goods are not meant to be used directly; instead, they are supposed to be processed further and used as a part of the production of consumer goods. Similarly, capital goods are also different from semi-finished products. They are also man-made, fully finished final products that are ready to use directly. They might also contain semi-finished goods as an intermediate part of them. Therefore, semi-finished metals are metals that are processed further to make consumer and capital goods. There is a wide variety of semi-finished metals available, which some firms either produce and then use themselves to make final goods or create and then sell to other firms. Some consider buying them from these firms and then using them to make final goods.
Semi-Finished Steel:
Semi-finished steel is one of the primary semi-finished metals used to make various final goods. It is not meant for direct use; instead, it is used in steel mills where it is processed further to make sheets, plates, rods, and various steel products out of it. It is produced as an intermediate product in a foundry by continuously casting liquid steel or primary solid steel. However, other semi-finished metals don’t come in a variety of categories, but semi-finished steel does come in four uniquely different categories. Different companies use all these categories of semi-finished steel for different purposes. The four categories of semi-finished steel are:
Categories of Semi-Finished Steel:
Semi-Finished Steel Ingots:
Semi-finished steel ingots are a rectangular shaped mass of steel with rounded corners and square or rectangular cross-sections. This shape of an ingot is designed so as to make it convenient for transportation and storage purposes. Its shape makes it easy to store or transport by just stacking up layers of ingots upon ingots. Usually, every exporter offers ingots that are cast big end down, but for some purposes, ingots are also made by cast big end up.
Semi-Finished Steel Billets:
Semi-finished steel billets are long steel bars in rectangular shape with a square cross-section. The shape of a billet is obtained by rolling or continuous casting and then rolling. Commonly any semi-finished steel billets exporter offers this shape of billet; however, some might also have billets in circular and square shapes. Steel billets are used by steel mills in the making of bars, angles, profiles, channels, and many other structural shapes of products.
Semi-Finished Steel Blooms:
Semi-finished steel blooms are similar to billets in shape. T he only difference is that these are not rod like and are thicker in shape than billets. Their shape, like billets, is also obtained by either continuous casting or rolling. They are used to make structures like rails, rods, and other structural shapes.
Semi-Finished Steel Slabs:
Semi-finished slabs, as the name indicates, are slab like steel masses with rectangular cross-sections. These are also made by continuous casting or rolling. These are used for the manufacturing of heavy machines. It is also used to make many thinner products like pipes, coils, tubes, plates, etc., by rolling the slab.
Other Semi-Finished Metals:
Semi-finished metals also consist of other metals like stainless steel, aluminum, copper, metal alloys, and other pure metals. This generates a variety of possibilities for businesses that need a diversity of semi-finished metals for the production of metal goods. Every metal has different strengths and properties. When some of these metals are transformed into semi-finished metals, it gives companies options to make the same products using other metals and provide modified properties to the same type of product. Like an aluminum, an ingot is not as strong as a stainless-steel ingot, so companies who need strong material for their products will go for stainless steel ingot. However, aluminum ingot will be cheaper than stainless steel ingot, making the aluminum more cost-effective than stainless steel, which will attract companies for sure. So, a company that wants to expand its business and attract more clients will use semi-finished aluminum, copper, stainless steel, and steel to make different metal products. The other important thing to know about semi-finished metals is that the cost of semi-finished metals is not counted in the GDP because these are not final products. Their cost is calculated in the cost of the final product, which is then included in the GDP.
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