An unsteady, two-dimensional, explicitly solved finite difference heat transfer model of a billet caster was presented to clarify the influence of the thermal conductivity of steel on model accuracy. Different approaches were utilized for calculating the thermal conductivity of solid, mushy and liquid steels. Model results predicted by these approaches were compared, and the advantages of advocated approaches were discussed. It is found that the approach for calculating the thermal conductivity of solid steel notably influences model predictions. Convection effects of liquid steel should be considered properly while calculating the thermal conductivity of mushy steel. Different values of the effective thermal conductivity of liquid steel adopted could partly be explained by the fact that different models adopted dissimilar approaches for calculating the thermal conductivity of solid and mushy steels.