ArcelorMittal Bremen restarts blast furnace

ArcelorMittal Bremen has restarted its blast furnace No.3, which was already idled before the outbreak of Covid-19 in October last year. The decision has been taken partly due to a recovery of demand, but also to compensate for the ongoing reline of a blast furnace in Ghent, Belgium, Kallanish learns from a spokesman.

Bremen’s two blast furnaces together have a capacity of 3.6 million tonnes/year of pig iron. BF3 is the smaller one which accounts for about one third of production, or some 3,500 tonnes/day.

Its restart will contribute to an overall increase of pig iron and crude steel production in Germany, which in August was again notably lower than in August 2019. Crude steel output totalled 2.82 million tonnes, -13% down year-on-year, according to steel federation WV Stahl. The dip was more pronounced for oxygen route steel (-16%) than for EAF route steel (-6%).

From January through August, crude steel production sank by -17% on-year to 22.71mt.