Acciaierie d’Italia, the joint venture between ArcelorMittal and state-owned Invitalia, is to again idle blast furnace no.4 at the Taranto steelworks from 1 December because of a technical issue. This will cause meltshop no.1 to also be idled for over a month, together with continuous casting units no.1 and 5, Kallanish learns from union sources.
While Taranto’s cold rolling mill is currently operating, workers believe it is only a matter of time before it is also idled. BF no.4 and the rest of the mothballed equipment are planned to be restarted on 20 January.
In October, the steelmaker restarted BFs1 and 4. The latter was idled for about seven months and the company spent €70 million ($79m) on upgrade works.
Acciaierie d’Italia posted approximately 4.4 million tonnes of output in 2020. Unions believe the target of 5mt for this year may not be reached. Until 20 January, Taranto will be working with two blast furnaces, no.1 and 2, and meltshop no.2, Kallanish notes.
Natalia Capra France
