European steel producer ArcelorMittal is restarting its Sestao electric-arc furnace (EAF) in Bilbao, Spain for October deliveries.
Sestao has a nameplate production capacity of around 1.8mn t/yr of hot-rolled coil (HRC) and 600,000 t/yr of pickled material, but was operating at a fraction of this when it was shut in March.
Market participants suggest it may have been manufacturing around 300-350,000 t/yr of HRC and 160,000 t/yr of pickled and oiled coil.
The furnace can restart quite quickly as it is an EAF, with market participants suggesting it produces “best in class” coil. It will produce around 100,000 t/yr on start-up.
Sestao is being restarted to alleviate the supply gap caused by the reline of ArcelorMittal’s Ghent blast furnace in Belgium, which will take around four months.
ArcelorMittal could not officially confirm Sestao’s restart.
By Colin Richardson
