Italian steelmaker Acciaierie d’Italia, the joint venture between ArcelorMittal and state-owned Invitalia, is considering idling a second blast furnace at its Taranto plant starting this week, according to sources close to the company. Contacted by Kallanish, the company refused to comment.
This comes after the steelmaker, formerly known as Ilva, already mothballed BF no.2 until the end of August amid the downturn in prices and demand in the global coil market. At present, Acciaierie d’Italia’s Taranto facility is working using BFs 1 and 4, one of which sources say will be mothballed. In June, two galvanizing lines were also idled due to deteriorating demand for coil.
At the end of 2021, the steelmaker mothballed blast furnace no.4 because of a technical issue. In October 2021, BFs no. 1 and 4 were restarted. The latter was idled for about seven months and the company spent €70 million ($71m) on upgrade works.
In France, ArcelorMittal has idled one blast furnace – HF2 – at its Dunkirk mill, effectively reducing output for the coming months (see Kallanish 20 June).
Natalia Capra France
